It's The Afterlife, Xander, But Not As We Know It
by Vlad-the-Impish
Summary: Crossover story, set Post Chosen. Xander dies, but doesn't get to rest in peace; instead, he goes where no Xander has gone before.
1. Chapter 1

Title: It's the Afterlife, Xander, But Not as You know It

Author: Vlad_the_Impish

Summary: Crossover story, set Post Chosen. Xander dies, but doesn't get to rest in peace.

Rating: Nothing worse than the shows the story is based on.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or shows depicted within this story, nor will I make any money from writing it.

A/N: I figured that, as I have so many unfinished stories that one more wouldn't hurt, thus this little ditty came about.

Now, I know that as you read this you will probably see similarities with Lucifael75's (otherwise known as TAFKAS: The Artist Formerly Known As Siege) excellent Prometheus series, and I admit that I have been inspired by his work. I let him know about it, and he has said he has no problem with me writing this, but if that changes I will of course cease and desist immediately.

_**It's the Afterlife, Xander, but Not as You Know It**_

_Chapter One_

Xander hadn't given much thought to what things would be like after death, but if he had, he would have been very disappointed with the reality.

Xander knew he was dead, no matter how much he would like it to be otherwise, as not many people survived being impaled on the top of a church steeple after being launched there by an irate Choen'atlitnh'ucianrge demon. He remembered seeing the metal spike protruding from his stomach, and he vaguely remembered hearing Buffy screaming his name, then he felt numb, there he felt nothing at all, and then he was here.

That, of course, meant that Xander was now in the afterlife, and he had to say that it didn't much look like what Buffy had so desperately wanted to return to when she'd been brought back from the dead. Xander knew what he was talking about, as Buffy had explained her experience of Heaven to him in as much detail as she was able.

The conversation regarding what Buffy had experienced during her second death had not been an easy one for him to start, and had been an even harder one for him to sit through, but it had been a long time in coming. He had been a party to removing her; the least he could do was understand exactly what he'd removed her from. It had happened around a year after their battle with The First, and Xander had not long been back from Africa, when he had pulled Buffy to one side one night and had asked if they could talk.

Listening to Buffy as she had explained the pure, unadulterated bliss she'd felt during those months, although as there had been no real sense of time there she hadn't actually known it was that long, had been gut wrenching to Xander, but like he said, as one of the people responsible for pulling her out of Heaven, it had been the least he could do.

After that, their relationship had gotten back on track, even more so than the summer before The First made its move. After three months of reconnecting and laying the foundations of a far more rounded friendship, Xander had mustered up the courage to ask Buffy out on a date. She had said yes, much to Xander's relief and delight, and had arranged it for two days later.

Ironically, they had just left the restaurant when the demon had attacked. They hadn't even had their first kiss.

Xander allowed himself a moment to mourn what could have been, and once again focussed on what, he assumed, would be his final resting place for all eternity. To say that it left much to be desired was understating it a tad, but it was better than fire and brimstone at least. He was currently seated in a rocking chair, looking out at the desert landscape before him in the vain hope that he might spot something else alive. Alright, he knew that he wasn't exactly among the living himself, but he was certain that insanity would only be a few short steps away if he was the only thing around.

The rocking chair was situated on the porch of an old roadside convenience store, and Xander had already taken a good long look inside for any other inhabitants. Xander figured that there must be life of some description, as somebody had to have built the store in the first place, not to mention that there was a road that stretched out as far as his eye could see in either direction.

There was a small garden to the right of the store that looked well kept, and had a scarecrow in the middle, which led Xander to believe that there were animals of some description around for someone to try and scare them away. There was also an old style pinball machine, and he'd played a few games to pass the time when his thoughts had become particularly depressive. Thinking about it, he must have been there longer than he had first thought, as there would not have been time for him to have done all that he had otherwise. Time had little meaning after death he supposed, but that would be another thing that would soon bug him if he found himself losing large chunks of time.

Xander sighed and closed his eyes, wondering if the sun would ever move from its position high in the sky. While night-time had become synonymous with his and his friends fight against evil, therefore making it both a necessity and a bane, Xander found himself missing watching the sun slowly disappear beyond the horizon and, more importantly, when it rose up again.

"The sun will never set, Alexander, nor will it ever rise," a voice told him to his left, on his blind side, and caused Xander to jump and turn in the direction of the voice.

"Who the hell are you?" Xander demanded angrily, as his shock and pleasure at finally meeting another person was overshadowed by his annoyance that they had managed to creep up on him.

Xander's blindside was a weakness, especially in a fight, and he had become particularly paranoid about people, or demons, using it to their advantage. Those within the Council knew not to do so, as two Watchers and a Slayer could attest that it would not bode well for them if they did. Actually, there were two exception to that rule; Buffy and Dawn. Buffy got away with it because she would always stay to his left in a battle to ensure his safety and he'd gotten used to her being there, and Dawn got away with it because, well, she was Dawn. A fleeting thought went through Xander's mind that it was odd he didn't have both eyes now he was dead, but he ignored it for the moment as his annoyance returned.

The man in front of him was neither Buffy nor Dawn, and therefore had already put himself in Xander's bad books. He looked older than Xander, although he had enough experience of dealing with people whose age could differ greatly to their outward appearance to be taken in by that, and he seemed to be wearing what looked like a high class pair of pyjamas, all black except the red on the shoulders. There was an aura of arrogance surrounding him, which did nothing to ingratiate him with Xander, and a smirk which made it look like he knew exactly what Xander was thinking. As far as Xander knew he probably could.

"Who I am is above your level of understanding, even after your mind was opened upon your death," the man – well, Xander guessed it was a man – replied in a tone that Xander had heard many a time when he'd gone to recruit one of the old guard Watchers back into the fold. "What I am, however, is your last chance to leave this place."

"And how, pray tell, can you do that?" Xander asked, hiding his irritation through sheer force of will by emulating the one father figure in his life that he cared about. "Oh, and while I might not be smart enough to know who you are, I would appreciate it if I knew what to call you."

The man smiled for a moment. "I knew that I had chosen correctly, but it's always nice to have such things proven to me. My name, Alexander, is Q, and I am in need of someone to act as a liaison between my people and yours," he told him. "They do not take my suggestions, or my threats, seriously, although I must admit that is partly my own doing." Q sighed, and for a moment, his aura of superiority slipped. "I'd had a bad millennia, and my first couple of meetings with them could have gone better."

"Uh, no offence, um, Q, but why the hell are you telling me?" Xander asked, and almost immediately regretted it, given that, if he were telling the truth, this guy was his last shot at escaping an eternity of boredom.

Q visibly shook himself, having noted that he'd given more away than he'd wanted to, and continued. "You, as one of their own kind, will be better received than I; at least you will be after they get over their distrust of anything that is associated with me. If they are to achieve the potential I know them to be capable of, they need to understand the dangers they face on their current path, dangers that will appear sooner than rather than later."

"Alright, say that I agree to do this," Xander said after he processed what he'd been told so far, "what's in it for me?"

"Apart from being able to leave this sorry excuse for an eternal resting place?" Q said, and his tone made it quite clear what he thought of Xander's current location. "As my emissary, you will be given the means with which to protect yourself, and while it will pale in comparison to my own abilities, it will ensure that you can carry out my wishes."

"And what are those wishes?" Xander asked. "I won't force them to do something they don't want to."

"If that were what I wanted, I could do that myself with but a snap of my fingers," Q replied a little testily. "There is little that I cannot do if I so desired, but as I already told you, I want them to reach their full potential, and that will not happen if I were to just force them to take the direction I want. There is also that pesky thing called free will, and The Creator would not be best pleased with me if I were to forget that, especially when it came to humanity."

"Then what is it you want me to do?" Xander asked, unknowingly letting on to Q that he had already decided.

"I want you to make them aware of the dangers that await them, and prepare them as best you can," Q replied simply. "Beyond that you may do as you wish, although there will, of course, be a few restrictions."

"Such as?" Xander asked suspiciously.

"You will not be permitted to converse with your friends," Q replied, and waited for the inevitable blow up. He didn't have to wait long.

"What! Who gives you the right to tell me who I can and cannot see?!" Xander demanded angrily, incensed that he would be forbidden in seeing Buffy and the others.

A sudden gust of wind forced Xander off his feet and he landed hard on his ass. All of a sudden the sky became filled with storm clouds, and the air around him suddenly felt thicker, more oppressive. "I am Q; that is all the right I need."

Xander might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he also wasn't the dullest either, and knew that he needed to change how he spoke to the, by all accounts, extremely powerful being in front of him. "Alright, why will I not be able to see my friends?" he asked after a moment in a far more reasonable tone of voice.

Q knew that was the best he would get from Xander given the circumstances, and decided to let his tantrum slide, this time at least. "There are two main reasons; the first is that they are all well aware that you are dead. You yourself know what that means, given that you were the one to write that particular piece of Council legislation."

Xander sighed and nodded his head in resignation. "Once a member of the Council, and especially one of the Scooby Gang, has been verified as dead, there is a 'Slay on Sight' order sent to all branches of the Council. If I turned up to see them, they'd kill me before I had a chance to say a word."

"You are already dead, Alexander, so they would not be able to kill you, not that they would even be able to harm you with the means you will have at your disposal as my emissary," Q informed him. "However, you are correct in the respect that they would most certainly not allow you the time to convince them of who you are."

"What is the other reason?" Xander asked, even though he knew that the first reason was more than enough to quash any thoughts of attempting to contact Buffy or anyone else in the Council.

"The second reason is that I will not give you the ability to travel back that far in time," Q informed him.

"What do you mean by that?" Xander asked, although he had a sinking feeling he already knew the answer.

"As you are well aware, time flows differently in different dimensions, and this place is no exception," Q replied. "While you believe you have only been here a few hours or a day at most, in actuality four hundred years has past and the world, the galaxy, has changed a great deal. Everyone you considered a friend is already dead, and have been for quite some time."

It was a good thing that Xander hadn't gotten up yet, because he knew he would have just fallen down again. The knowledge that everyone he cared about was dead, and had been for hundreds of years, cut him more deeply than any wound ever could. It wasn't so much that they were dead, as he'd known it would happen one day, and had even been there to witness it more than once with Buffy, it was that he hadn't seen them.

Up until now, Xander had thought he was in, if not Heaven itself, then at least an offshoot of it, but now he was thinking differently. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that the others, and Buffy especially, were deserving of spending their afterlife in Heaven, and he'd always thought that they would all meet up again one day. For him not to have seen them meant that they either didn't want to see him – which just didn't factor into his equations – or they were unable to do so. For it to be the second option, he must not be anywhere near Heaven.

"You're not in Hell, or anywhere near it," Q informed him, having no doubt read his mind.

"Then why haven't I seen them?" Xander asked in a whisper.

"Because you are not ready to," Q replied simply, but his tone gentle. He might be seen by many is uncaring, and he wasn't entirely certain they were wrong in their estimation, at least as far as their fragile mortal minds could fathom, but even he knew better than to alienate someone when you wanted something from them. That and not even he was the type to kick someone when they were down; when they were falling, yes, but not once they were down. "Your friends and loved ones managed to live full and relatively normal lives given the nature of work they were in, and were ready to rest. You, however, were cut off in your prime, and even though you might not think so, you are not yet ready to truly embrace what Heaven has to offer you."

Xander was about to ask him what sort of bullshit Q was shovelling, but knew that would not be the best way to go about it. Instead, he finally decided to stand up, and after he dusted himself down, walked over and sat back down on the rocking chair. All of this gave him time to think of what to say, and more importantly, how to say it.

"Why do you think I'm not ready to go to Heaven?" Xander asked eventually.

"It isn't so much that you are not ready to go to Heaven, as it is that you would not be able to appreciate it in the way that you should," Q told him.

"What do you mean by that?" Xander asked in exasperation, his patience having already eroded beyond safe levels.

"For the most part, when a person dies it is when they are supposed to die; all part of The Creator's grand design," Q explained, and Xander could feel the air quotes around the words grand design. "However, there are occasions when a person dies before their time, or worse, after it."

"If God has this 'grand design'," Xander said, and Q could tell that he had to hold himself back from making air quotes as well, "how can people die when they're not supposed to, and how can it be worse for a person to die after they were meant to as opposed to before?"

"For all of the planning that takes place, there is still free will," Q replied, and his tone made it sound to Xander that he was not exactly happy with that. "The vast majority of the time you will find that the two coincide with each other, as people invariably choose to do what The Creator wanted them to in the first place, but there is the odd occasion where they don't, and not even The Creator is allowed to interfere in a person's right to choose. As for why it is worse for a person to die after they were meant to than before, imagine what it would be like to have achieved everything you were meant to in life, and then continue living without ever being able to match or surpass what you have already done. To give you an analogy that you might have a chance of understanding, it would be like those one hit wonders in the charts, who continue to try and repeat their success but never quite manage to do so; all they are left with are memories and the realisation that their moment in the spotlight had come and gone."

"Which am I then?" Xander asked.

"You are one that was killed before you were meant to, of course; I wouldn't very well choose someone who died after the fact, now would I?" Q said in a tone that almost dared Xander to say something.

"So what did I do wrong?" Xander asked, having decided not to rise to the bait.

"You didn't do anything wrong, in fact you didn't even do anything all that different to what The Creator had planned," Q replied. "During that fight with the Choen'atlitnh'ucianrge, you took three steps forward instead of two; it was a small change, but sometimes even the smallest change can make an enormous impact on events and in this case it brought you close enough to it to grab you and throw you to your death. Most people who die early move on to Heaven and don't really feel any different, but you were meant for far bigger things than you had achieved, and that kind of thing leaves a void inside you that not even Heaven can adequately fill. Taking the challenge of becoming my emissary will fill that void, and when you are finished you will be able to return to Heaven and be reunited with all of your loved ones."

"What happens if I say no?" Xander asked, although his tone indicated there was little chance of that happening.

"You get to meet up with your loved ones," Q replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Despite what others of your species think, I am not an evil man, and would not begrudge you eternal happiness just because you turned me down; not that The Creator would let me if I tried," he added in a tone too quiet for Xander to hear, "but I wasn't lying when I said that you will not be able to fully enjoy paradise until you feel you have accomplished more than you have."

Xander had to nod his head in agreement at that. He remembered how restless he'd felt sitting in the rocking chair, hoping for something to come along so that he would have something to do. He realised that in heaven there wouldn't really be anything for him to do, at least there wouldn't be anything productive for him to do, and while he had often harboured thoughts of what he would do if he were lucky enough to retire, he wasn't ready to find out, not yet.

Xander could still feel the need to make a difference inside him, and realised that Q was right; he would not be able to settle and enjoy the splendours of Heaven the way he should unless he was able to contribute something more in the real world first.

"So, Alexander, will you be my emissary?" Q asked again, having done so more often in the last few minutes than he had in a very long time.

There was really only one answer Xander could give.

"I might as well; I've got nothing better to do."


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

"Alright," Xander said as he and Q flashed into view, "Where are we?"

Q rolled his eyes and forcibly turned Xander around so he wasn't looking at him. "Where does it look like we are?"

Xander looked around, trying not to snap at Q for the way he manhandled him, and looked around in awe for a few moments as he realised he was in space, before his eyes widened and he clapped his hand over his nose and mouth.

Q looked at Xander for a moment before he sighed and pried his hands away from his face. "You are perfectly safe, Alexander; I wouldn't choose you as my emissary only for you to die due to explosive decompression immediately afterwards."

"It's alright for you, you're omnipotent and older than dirt," Xander said defensively once he allowed himself to breathe again. "The closest I got to outer space was watching Star Wars and Babylon 5."

Q had little option but concede the point; Xander was so far out of his element it was a testament to him that he was able to function at all. Of course, he had no intention of telling Xander that, especially not after the older than dirt comment. "You can sightsee later, Alexander. Right now we have more pressing concerns, and one of them is Guinan."

"Guinan? Who's he?" Xander asked.

"Guinan is a she actually, and currently runs a bar onboard the Enterprise called Ten Forward," Q replied. "By the way, we are currently standing on the hull of the Enterprise."

Xander looked down and saw that they were indeed standing on a large metal structure, unlike anything Xander had ever seen. "Cool," he said simply, as his mind was having a hard time processing everything to give a more energetic response. "So, why is this Guinan a concern?"

"She and I have a personal history, one that is less than amicable on both sides," Q replied, and Xander could tell that was an understatement from his tone, "and will therefore be very distrustful of you."

"Wouldn't be the first time I've had to deal with a situation like that," Xander pointed out.

"True," Q conceded with a nod, knowing that Xander had dealt with many situations like that during his time in Africa searching for newly Called Slayers, another factor in his reason for choosing him, "but she has the ear of the person you need to convince to trust you, who will also be distrustful of your 'true' intentions once your link to me is known."

"Again, it wouldn't be the first time I've had to deal with that," Xander said again.

"The men you had to deal with before were intelligent, but deeply steeped in superstition and therefore easy to manipulate," Q corrected. "Jean-Luc is intelligent, but will not be so easily swayed by the parlour tricks that worked so well for you in Africa, as a great deal of what you could do is now possible through technological means, not to mention that he is already aware of my power. Another obstacle to overcome will be his command crew, who you will also need to get onside if you are to succeed."

"Alright," Xander said with a nod. "I knew this wouldn't be easy when I agreed to do this."

"Nothing worth doing should be. So, how do you want to begin?" Q asked with a clap of his hands.

Xander looked at him with a deer in the headlights expression. "What do you mean, where do I want to start?"

"You are my emissary, Alexander; your job is to convince them of the dangers they face by flying blindly around the cosmos, not mine," Q said with a smile, reminding Xander of his new role. "I will not interfere or give guidance on how you are to do that, beyond providing you with the information you will need to do that, the majority of which I have already given you."

"Oh joy," Xander said sarcastically. "This is gonna go so well."

* * *

"Anything to report, Number One?" Captain Jean-Luc Picard asked his First Officer, Commander William T. Riker as he left stepped onto the Bridge from his Ready Room.

"No, Captain," Riker replied as he stood up from his position in the 'centre chair' and took his usual position. "We are currently four hours away from Starbase 83 at our current speed."

"Very good." Picard sat down in his chair, only to stand up again almost immediately when an all too familiar, and exceedingly unwelcome, flash appeared before him.

"Red Alert!" Riker commanded as he, too, stood up from his chair when he saw their uninvited guest.

"There is no need for all that, Commander," Q said, none of his usual ego or bravado evident.

"What do you want, Q?" Riker asked with a growl, still angry over their last encounter to notice the change in Q's demeanour. He still thought about what it had been like to have the power of the Q at his command, and the almost heady feeling it had given him, but when he thought of what he would have lost to keep them – his friends and, more importantly, his humanity – he was glad he had chosen to give them up.

Picard, however, was paying closer attention; not to Q, but to the young man standing beside him for the moment, having gotten used to Q appearing alone. That quickly changed when Q's tone and demeanour registered completely different from their previous encounters, and the Captain focussed his attention on Q once he realised that something serious was going on.

His theory was proved to be correct a moment later when the young man stepped forward one pace, ensuring that he did so slowly and without any threatening overtures Picard noted, before he extended his hand in greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Picard; my name is Alexander Harris, but I prefer to be called Xander."

"Captain…" Riker began, only to stop when Picard raised his hand.

"It's alright, Number One," Picard said, knowing that there really was nothing they could do to prevent Q from doing whatever he wanted, and he had no reason to think otherwise of his companion. "Stand down Red Alert," he ordered after a moment's deliberation, before he shook Xander's hand. "The pleasure is mine, Mr Harris; welcome to the USS Enterprise."

"I doubt that, Captain, but it's nice of you to say so," Xander said with a smile, knowing that the pleasantries were mostly to do with who he had arrived with. "But please, call me Xander; when someone says Mr Harris I think of my father and I'd really rather not."

"Very well then, Xander," Picard said with a nod while he filed away the comment of him having a father. "This is my First Officer, Commander William Riker," he said, indicating to his right.

Xander turned his attention to the Commander and extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, Commander."

Riker decided to follow his Captain's lead and shook the young man's hand, even as he kept one eye on Q, although he did put a little more into it than he would otherwise do.

Xander noticed both the look Riker sent towards Q and the strength he had put into the shake, but commented on neither, instead he simply smiled. "Just so you know, Q here has promised me that he will be on my best behaviour."

"Your best behaviour?" Riker asked as Q snorted but otherwise didn't comment, something else that Picard took notice of. "Don't you mean his?"

"No, as Q's best behaviour isn't that much different from his worst," Xander replied, grimacing slightly as he remembered what Q had told him about his previous encounters with the crew of the Enterprise. "His words, not mine. By the way, is there any way the gentleman standing behind you could put his weapon away, as we're not here to cause any trouble."

Captain Picard turned around and saw that his Chief of Security, Lieutenant Worf, was indeed pointing his phaser at Q and Xander. "That won't be necessary, Lieutenant," he said casually.

Despite the casual note in the Captain's voice, Worf knew an order when he heard one and stowed his phaser, albeit reluctantly. He knew that the weapon would be of no effect against Q, and he assumed the same of Xander, but he always felt better in situations like this to have a weapon to hand, or preferably in his hand.

"Alexander is correct that my best behaviour would not be seen as such by many, although I suggest that he doesn't get used to it," Q said as he looked meaningfully at Xander.

When Xander had suggested to Q how he wanted this first meeting to go, it had annoyed him greatly, but he also had to admit that it would have the best chance of success. The biggest part that Q had baulked at had been the way it would appear that Xander had some sort of control over him, but again he had to admit that it would only help Xander's case. It was a lie of course, as only one being had any real measure of control over Q and the rest of the continuum, something he was certain Guinan would point out to Picard sooner or later, but the fact that he was seemingly doing what Xander had asked would ensure that Picard would want to solve the puzzle, and to do that he would need to keep Xander around.

"May I speak with you in private, Captain?" Xander asked, knowing that Q's patience was wearing thin, and if he wanted any chance of convincing the Captain to allow him to stay onboard for the time being he had to do it while Q was behaving.

Captain Picard looked at the young man before him, his eyes flicking to the eyepatch covering his left eye, and wondered what would happen if he said no. Xander had so far been polite, but Picard had no idea if that would continue if he were to deny his request, and given that it seemed he was somehow keeping Q in line, it would not bode well to antagonise him.

"Of course," Picard replied with a small smile after a moment, and then went to move towards his ready room, only to pause when he noticed that while Xander had followed him, Q did not. "Are you not joining us, Q?"

"No, Alexander will tell you everything you need to know," Q replied. "I thought I would go and visit your Ten Forward; your bartender is an… old acquaintance of mine."

"Q, I will not have you harassing anyone on my ship," Picard told him firmly, even as he began to feel worried about why Q would want to speak to his friend Guinan. From his experience, having the attention of Q was not something to be desired, and wondered how someone like Guinan had managed it.

"I will not harass the woman, Jean-Luc," Q told him, his tone serious enough to give Picard pause. "I merely want to speak with her."

Before Picard had a chance to say another word, Q disappeared in a flash of light.

"I know you don't want Q running around your ship, Captain," Xander said as he saw the glances made between Picard and Riker, "but he will not hurt Guinan."

Picard saw the sincerity in Xander's eye and reluctantly nodded. However, that didn't mean he couldn't take steps to ensure it. "Data, go to Ten Forward and inform Q that you will be his escort whilst onboard."

"Yes, Captain," Lieutenant Commander Data replied, and made his way to the turbo lift.

"Thank you, Captain," Xander said. "While Q had promised not to start anything, I couldn't say what would happen if he was faced with one of your security teams."

Picard nodded but didn't comment. He didn't doubt that Q would have used it as an excuse to have some fun, despite the fact that his security personnel would have been no threat to him. That the young man also knew that meant that he had to know Q quite well, and he had to admit to being curious as to how. "Commander, you have the bridge."

"Aye, sir," Riker said a little reluctantly as he watched Picard and Xander enter his ready room.

Riker didn't like the thought of the Captain being alone with the young man one bit, and would have argued the point if it weren't for the fact that he trusted his commanding officer's judgment, and that if this Xander was anything like Q, there would be little to nothing that they could do to stop him if he tried anything anyway.

If there was one thing Riker hated more than anything else is, it was feeling he had no control, and he seemed to feel that way whenever Q made an appearance.

* * *

  
"You!" Guinan hissed as Q appeared before her.

"Of course it's me, who else would it be?" Q replied, feeling a little irritated by the question. When he saw Guinan get into a defensive position, he sighed and took a step back. "I'm not here to fight you, Guinan."

"Then why are you here?" she demanded.

"To talk," Q replied simply. "I believe you often tell people that you like to listen, so it works out quite well, don't you think?" he added, finding it difficult not to try and antagonise the woman.

"I have no time for your games, Q," Guinan told him firmly as she walked out from behind the bar so she had the freedom to move should the need arise.

"I'm not here to play games, Guinan," Q informed her, and silently smiled as he watched her prepare herself should he attack. He had no inclination to cause harm to the woman, despite the fact she had the ability of getting on his nerves without even trying, but liked the fact that she was wary of him. "Jean-Luc is currently speaking with my emissary, and I thought I would come and speak to you about him."

"What need do you have for an emissary?" Guinan asked despite herself. "Your idea of diplomacy is to decimate your enemies to the point where they willingly do whatever you ask."

"True," Q conceded with a shrug, "that used to be the way I did things, but times change."

"You cannot have changed that much since the last time we met," Guinan said, remembering with almost too much clarity what had happened, and how she had been lucky to survive.

"You still think in such a linear fashion," Q said with feigned disappointment. "I would have thought your brush with the Nexus would have given you a more open viewpoint. In any event, while I do not need an emissary, I think we can both agree that I have not ingratiated myself with Jean-Luc and his crew," Q replied. "I will admit that I have been… heavy-handed in my approach in the past, and have ensured that they will not heed my warnings about what is to come. That is where Alexander comes in."

"You told the Captain that you had put humanity in trial, Q," Guinan said incredulously, having never been able to understand how the Q could be so powerful and yet so obtuse. "How did you expect them to react?"

"I'd just had to imprison Quinn in a meteor to ensure that the others wouldn't do something worse, so I was in a less than forgiving mood," Q said in defence of his actions, and even Guinan had to admit that it did go some way to explain, but not justify, his actions. "Anyway, I did not come here to talk about myself; I came to talk to you about Alexander. While you have legitimate reasons for hating me with a passion, the same cannot be said for him, and I want to be certain that you will not tar him with the same brush."

"He must be important to you, Q, for you to demean yourself enough to ask me for anything," Guinan said, goading her former adversary.

"I have asked him to be my emissary and he has accepted, despite already having earned a place in paradise," he replied, not rising to the bait. "His job will be difficult as it is without having to deal with those who would be biased towards him because of his association with me. All I am…" Q pulled a face at what he was about to do, "… asking of you is that you give Alexander the benefit of the doubt and judge him on his own merits, not on mine."

Guinan looked at Q in shock, as she hadn't thought he would actually go through with it and ask. That he did told her more about this Alexander's role, and his importance to Q, than anything else ever could.

"Alright, I will not judge Alexander based on what I know about you," Guinan assured him, "but I must admit to having doubts about him if he is willing to ally himself with you."

At that moment, Lieutenant Commander Data walked into Ten Forward and approached the pair. "Captain Picard has assigned me as your escort while you are on the Enterprise, Q."

"Ah, Jean-Luc doesn't trust me to go un-chaperoned, does he?" Q said with a smile. "Oh well, it could have been worse; he could have sent Woof."

* * *

  
"So, Xander, what do you want?" Captain Picard asked as he placed a mug of coffee down in front of Xander before he sat down with his cup of Earl Grey.

"Not one for beating around the bush, are you, Captain?" Xander said with a smile before his expression became more serious. "The first thing you need to know is that I am not a part of the Q Continuum; I am as human as you are, more or less."

"More or less?" Picard said with a raised eyebrow.

"I've lived a very interesting life, and that was before I met Q," Xander explained without actually explaining anything. "The reason I'm telling you is because he has told me how inquisitive you are, and that you would have eventually had one of your staff scan me, either with or without my knowledge, to find out more about me."

Captain Picard looked a little uncomfortable with the way Xander had worded that, given that it had not only shown that both Q and Xander thought him capable of using underhanded means to sate his curiosity, but that his words had more than a grain of truth to them, but decided against commenting either way. "How did you meet Q?" he asked instead, curious as to how Xander fit into Q's latest scheme.

"To be frank, that is none of your business, Captain," Xander said bluntly. He knew that he needed to make nice with the Captain if he was to succeed in his task, but he had never been one to freely give information to people he just met. He also knew that he was not ready to hear the truth, and didn't want to lie in case he was later found out.

"I see," Picard said, his tone and stance becoming more formal.

"I doubt that, Captain, and I don't mean to be rude, but that is a very personal subject to me and I don't know you well enough to talk about it," Xander said, knowing he had just lost some ground. "I can, however, explain why I met him. Q is aware that your last two meetings with him were not handled very well, and while he will not apologise or justify his actions, he is able to see that he needed to go about things a different way for him to help you reach your potential as a race."

"I thought you said that you're human?" Picard said, having picked up on Xander's last statement. "Do you no longer consider yourself a part of the human race?"

"Oh, I do, and the task that Q has given me is my own personal chance of reaching my potential, which is why I did not, and do not, include myself in what he has planned for humanity," Xander replied, knowing that he would only intrigue and annoy the Captain with his non-explanation. "Q feels that you need guidance, someone who can help prepare you for what is to come, and he has chosen me to be that guide."

"Our mission is to seek out new life and new civilisations, not follow a guide book like a common tourist," Picard said firmly.

"That may be your mission, but nowhere does it say that you have to fly blindly and hope to live to tell the tale," Xander replied, not quite keeping his calm.

Xander could understand the Captain's position, and even agreed with him in part, but he also knew better than most that travelling without any idea of what lied ahead could be both fascinating and downright dangerous at the same time. He'd had more than one close call when he travelled Africa to understand that, and from what Q had let him in on, the Enterprise's adventure would make what he'd experienced look like a stroll through San Diego Zoo.

"While I appreciate your, and Q's, concern, I honestly do not believe that your services will be required," Picard told him, and Xander could tell from his tone that he had made his decision and would not be swayed.

"Your arrogance astounds me," Q said as he flashed into being, and Picard was surprised to see that he had brought Data and Guinan along for the ride. "I was willing to take a step back, to provide you with a man who would be there to prepare you for the dangers to come, to give aid when required, but no, you feel there is nothing out there that you cannot deal with." During Q's rant, the light within the Ready Room seemed to dim, and the atmosphere became so thick it felt as though it could be cut with a knife. "Let's see, shall we?"

"Q, what are you going to do?" Guinan asked, knowing that things had gone too well so far.

Had she the opportunity to speak with Picard before Xander, she might have been able to persuade him to at least allow Q's emissary to join them on a trial basis, with the hope that the young man would show his worth and become a permanent fixture. Guinan had her own reservations about having a Q liaison onboard, even if he was human, but knew it was a far safer option than the way Q had previously been acting. That Picard hadn't picked up on that was a mistake, one that she had hoped he would avoid making, and now he was about to feel the consequences of his actions.

"I'm going to allow Jean-Luc to prove his case that he is ready for whatever is out there," Q told her, his tone firm and unyielding, which was a far cry from normal, "and I can think of no better place to start than System J25."

It took Guinan a moment to realise what Q had meant, but once she had she blanched and her eyes widened in fright as she saw him click his fingers.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three_

The Enterprise arrived at its destination moments later to orbit an unknown planet. Q walked out of the Ready Room onto the Bridge with Picard and the others following close behind.

"Do you have any idea what you've just done?" Guinan asked Q angrily. "They're not ready for this and you know it!"

"Of course I know that I've done, and I know they're not ready for it," Q replied just as angrily, "but it was their arrogance that brought this about, Guinan. Remember that."

"Q, what's going on?" Xander asked, having seen the expression on his face too many times in those of his enemies. He knew with certainty that whatever it was Q had just done was most definitely not of the good.

"Do you remember the Initiative?" Q asked.

"Of course I do," Xander snapped. "It's hard to forget going up against the modern equivalent of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein."

"Well, you're about to meet ADAMs descendents," Q said with a vicious smile.

With that ominous statement hanging in the air, Q flashed out of sight, leaving a very angry command crew and a very nervous looking Xander. Data, having no one to chaperone any longer, returned to his post while Picard and Riker trained their eyes on Xander.

"Lt. Worf, please escort Mr Harris to guest quarters," Picard ordered after a moment, his anger at what Q had just done clear in his voice.

Guinan looked on in sympathy as Xander flinched at the tone in the older man's voice. So far he had been nothing but polite to everyone, but she knew that his association with Q, especially now, overshadowed that.

"Aye, sir," Worf replied and quickly walked up towards Xander and indicated that he follow him.

Xander, who had quickly guessed that things would not turn out in his favour if he argued his case, slumped his shoulders and walked dejectedly behind the Lieutenant. With Q having left him to face the fallout, with no idea if he would return, Xander didn't think he'd find the 24th Century all that enjoyable a place to be.

"Guinan," Captain Picard said as they watched the pair enter the turbo lift, "what do you know of this region of space?"

"I know enough to urge you to turn back now, while you still can," Guinan replied seriously. "You will not want to hear this, Captain, but Q was right; you are not prepared for what is to come."

"What are we not prepared for? What is coming?" he asked, having realised that he might have allowed his own distrust of Q's motivations, and his own pride, to lead not only him but his ship and his crew into a very serious situation.

"The Borg."

Before Guinan could say anything further, the helmsman called out to the Captain. "Captain, we are approaching a planet, Class M."

"Put it on the main viewer," Picard ordered, his interest in the planet putting his conversation with Guinan on the backburner for the moment.

As the planet came into view, a hush descended on the Bridge. There were clear signs of civilisation, but what had caused the reaction from those watching was the devastation that had been wrought upon it; immense raging fires that swept across entire land masses so intense the flames were visible even from such a distance, large impact craters that littered the planet's surface. They were not strangers to war, but few within Starfleet had actually been witness to the carnage left behind, having only read about it during the training in the Academy, or possibly stories from their parents and grandparents about what they had experienced.

"Data," Picard said, the question clear in his voice.

"Sensors detect that the craters were caused by sustained weapons fire; the energy signature of the weaponry does not match anything in our database, and from the residual energy levels the attack happened no more than one hour ago." Data paused for a moment, as he knew how the next piece of information would be taken. "There are no life signs present on the planet surface."

"Are there any ships within scanning range?" Riker asked immediately, knowing there was a chance that whoever attacked the planet may well be in the area. Anything capable of such total destruction was definitely a risk to the Enterprise, and he wanted to ensure that they were not caught unawares.

"No, Commander," Data replied, "scanners do not detect any craft- correction, sir; a ship has just appeared on our scanners, and at its present course and speed it will arrive here in 58 minutes and 31 seconds."

"Can you identify them?" Picard asked.

"Negative, Captain; the ship does not match any known classification," Data replied. "The ship is cuboid in design, approximately-"

"Thank you, Data," Captain Picard interjected quickly before he turned his attention to Guinan. "Guinan, will you accompany me to my Ready Room?" he asked, although his tone had a hint of a command in it.

Guinan nodded her head once simply, none of her normal air of serenity present in light of the current situation she found herself in. "Of course, Captain," she replied, knowing that she couldn't respond any other way.

She knew trying to suggest that they turn around and head back would be pointless now, as the Captain would not want to leave until he had found out what the ship approaching was and why they attacked the planet. Guinan hated to admit it, but Q was correct in one respect; humanity's inquisitive nature was both a strength and a weakness, and she feared that this time it fell firmly into the latter category.

* * *

  
"So, Lt. Worf, what's it like being the only Klingon in the Federation? Is it anything like being the only gay in the village?" Xander asked his guard/escort as they made their way towards the guest quarters that would become his prison for the foreseeable future. He smiled when Worf growled but otherwise didn't react, and wondered how much further he could push him before the natural instincts of a Klingon overruled his nurtured instincts of a Starfleet officer.

After being left in the lurch by his new boss, Xander had quickly gotten over Q's abrupt actions, his departure and the subsequent fallout of them, and had begun to think of how he could work things to his advantage. He could still feel the power that Q had given him, which he took to mean that he was still seen by Q as his emissary, and therefore Xander did his best to block out the prospect of spending the rest if his life behind bars, or a force field, by focussing on the task at hand.

Xander knew, of course, that he could only be held for as long as he wanted, but also knew that to escape would permanently sever any chance he had at fulfilling his mission. To ignore the orders of Captain Picard and move around the ship with impunity would show himself as someone who felt they were above the law, and while Captain Picard was not averse to bending even the most fundamental laws he had vowed to uphold, he would only do so in the most extreme of circumstances. Xander didn't think the Captain would accept not wanting to be cooped up in quarters that Xander would have considered as palatial in Sunnydale as extreme circumstances.

Q's little hint about what the Enterprise was about to face did not bode well for anyone, and Xander hoped that it was just a joke on Q's part, but doubted it. He was a little worried that he had no knowledge of what they were going to face, which kind of made his job of informing Picard of what he was going to face a little difficult, but figured that in his anger Q had decided to send them somewhere he hadn't expected them to go for some time.

Q's reaction to Picard's refusal of help showed with crystal clarity why he needed to have an emissary in the first place; he was impulsive, impatient, and believed that he was always right and hated it if someone thought otherwise. Trying to deal with a race that questioned everything the way humanity did had to have infuriated him something chronic, especially at a time in their development when they would not be as overawed by his abilities as they might well have been long ago. Hell, even back in his time, Q would have been able to get humanity to about anything they asked, as only those on the fringes of society had any real experience with the unknown.

They reached the quarters and Worf escorted Xander inside. "There will be two members of security posted outside the door at all times," Worf informed him gruffly, although Xander guessed that was the way he always talked, "and we will be notified immediately if you were to leave through any other means."

The Lieutenant then turned around and left Xander alone in his new home for the foreseeable future. That was fine with him, as he'd felt uncomfortable around Worf from the moment he and Q had appeared on the Bridge; Worf looked a little too demony for his tastes, and Data had also made him feel a little on edge. He knew that neither Worf nor Data were actually demons, but the aesthetics were enough to make him wary. They also felt like they weren't human, which of course they weren't, but after almost a decade of fighting for his life against things that either didn't look or feel human, Xander had developed an understandable, if somewhat unhealthy, aversion to anything that made him uneasy.

It wasn't something Xander was very proud of, but after having one too many near misses when he hadn't listened to his feeling, he had finally embraced it. Those last six months before his death he had, with Buffy's help, tried to find a balance between trusting too quickly and not trusting at all, but he knew that he had a long way to go before he reached it, and in a future where the vast majority of people he would be interacting with weren't human, he'd have to put extra effort into it to ensure he didn't burn any more bridges because of his own prejudices.

Chastising himself for getting distracted, Xander returned to the reason he was in the 24th Century, and what he could do to make himself better prepared for that task ahead. He had the information from Q about what he felt Picard, and a few other people, needed to be aware of, but he didn't have much in the way of practical knowledge about the time he now found himself a part of. That was not of the good, especially if he wanted to be able to integrate himself into society so he didn't stick out like a sore thumb everywhere he went, so Xander decided that for the time being his best bet was to get to know more about Starfleet, the Federation, and anywhere else he might find himself in over the next however long he would be here for.

"What I need is a computer," Xander said out loud, and then smiled slightly as he realised what he just said, knowing that if Willow were around he'd be hearing her talking a mile a minute-

Xander dropped into a nearby seat as once again the overwhelming feeling of loss washed over him. His relationship with Willow had changed over the years, and neither could state they were as close as they had been when they were younger, but never had a day gone by when he hadn't felt the connection he had with her, a connection that had transcended everything else, until now.

Willow was gone, as was Buffy, Dawn, Giles and everyone else he ever knew or cared about, and instead of spending eternity in paradise with them all, he had decided to take up the challenge of a perfect stranger only to find himself the prisoner of the very people he'd been asked to help.

Xander visibly shook himself to get himself away from the emotional black hole he had been veering towards and then stood up and walked over to the computer console on the wall. From what knowledge Q had given him, he could see that voice recognition had come a long way in the last few hundred years so his lack of computer skills shouldn't be too much of a disadvantage. "Computer, display general information on the United Federation of Planets," he commanded with a voice devoid of any emotion, and then began to study the information as it began to spool before him, immersing himself in it to distract him from, well, everything.

* * *

  
"The Borg are unlike anything you have ever faced before," Guinan told Picard, her tone and demeanour deadly serious, a stark contrast to her usual presence. "They are a cybernetic lifeform, made up of hundreds and thousands of different races; they amalgamate any civilisation they feel will benefit their own, whether that civilisation wishes it or not. They work with one mind, one voice, one purpose, and they do not stop until they have fulfilled their objective; you may defeat one ship, ten, a hundred, even a thousand, but they will keep coming, and coming, until they are victorious and you are assimilated." Guinan leaned forward, as she wanted to make one thing perfectly clear the Captain in the hope that he would heed her warning. "There is no reasoning with them, there is no possibility of peaceful co-existence; you are either not worthy of their focus and are ignored, or you have something they can utilise and are assimilated."

"Guinan, I cannot believe that our only options are, literally, fight or flight," Captain Picard stated.

"You may believe whatever you like, Jean-Luc, but it will not change reality," Guinan replied calmly but firmly. "The Borg are only concerned about furthering their own kind, and if they feel that you and your technology will do that, your options are exactly as you said; fight, or flee. I would strongly suggest the latter."

"Captain," Data's voice said over the comm. system, "the unidentified craft has increased its speed to Warp 9.5, and will be in weapons range in less then five minutes."

Captain Picard looked at Guinan for a moment, before he stood up and strode out of the ready room and onto the bridge. "Shields up, go to Yellow Alert," he ordered as he took his seat, with Guinan taking the seat next to him normally occupied by Councillor Deanna Troi. "Are they close enough to get a visual, Data?"

"Yes, Captain," Data replied, and then followed the implied command and put the ship on the main viewer.

The ship didn't look like anything they had faced before; in fact it didn't look like a ship at all. A large green and black cube filled the viewscreen, and it somehow managed to look all the more imposing by how innocuous it appeared. Picard turned to look at Guinan to see that her complexion was a deathly pale, and that she was gripping the seat hard enough to turn her knuckles white.

It didn't take long for her to notice she was being watched, and Guinan stood up quickly and turned to the Captain. "If you don't mind, Captain, I would like to return to my duties."

While he wanted to keep Guinan around for her knowledge on The Borg, Picard could see that she was in no fit state to be of any practical use at the moment, and that her demeanour might unnerve the crew, so he reluctantly agreed. "Of course, Guinan."

Guinan nodded and made her way to the turbolift, Picard noting that she did so far faster than her normal sedate gate. Part of him wanted to follow and see what he could do to help his friend, but his duty and responsibility prevented him from doing so, and he returned his attention to the ship onscreen.

* * *

  
Xander was so focussed on the screen in front of him that it took him a while to notice the sound coming from the door, and a little longer to realise it meant someone wanted to come in. He was a little surprised that they were requesting entry instead of just coming right in, given the reason he was in the room in the first place, but he wasn't going to complain about them having good manners.

"Come in," he said after a moment, suppressing the shudder that came upon him from saying it.

The door opened and Guinan walked inside, blinking her eyes to get accustomed to the gloom. "Alexander?" she said, not able to see him in the far corner of the room just yet.

"I'm here, Guinan," Xander replied as he stepped closer. "I'm surprised that you're here; I would have thought that the Captain would have sent someone to debrief me before letting anyone else have access."

"I'm sure he will, eventually," she replied. "I shouldn't actually be in here, but I persuaded the guards outside to let me pass; it helped that Ensign Matthews owes me a favour or two."

"So, do you know when the Federation's version of the Salem witch trials begin?" Xander asked bitterly, knowing that his situation was akin to those that had been accused of witchcraft centuries ago.

"Captain Picard has more pressing concerns than you at the moment, all thanks to your new boss," Guinan informed him. "You could have chosen better employment, and you could have certainly chosen a better employer."

"Employment suggests I'm getting paid, Guinan," Xander said with a small smile. "I didn't take the job for money; I took it because it gave me the opportunity to make a difference before I finally passed on. So, what can I do for you?"

"What did Q tell you about the Borg?" Guinan asked, accepting Xander's reason for becoming Q's emissary, and reminding herself that he wasn't the one to put them in their current predicament.

"The only Borg I know played tennis," Xander replied.

"I thought as much," Guinan said with a sigh as she walked over to a nearby couch and sat down. "I had hoped that this had all been some sort of sick and twisted plan by Q, but I guess not."

"Nope, this is another temper tantrum on his part from what I can tell," Xander told her. "The reason he brought me in was to help prevent something like this; I didn't do so well, did I?"

"You are not to blame for this, Alexander; that position is solely Q's," Guinan assured him.

"She's right," Q said as he blinked into view, but without the usual flash of light that accompanied him using his abilities.

"What's with the lack of a lightshow?" Xander asked.

"That engineer of Jean-Luc's, La Forge, believes that he can detect my presence by tracking my energy signature. They can, but only if I wish it," Q replied with a small smile. "At this time, however, I do not wish them to know of my arrival, for your sake if nothing else. I will not apologise for what I have done, but I do regret making your mission all the harder." When he saw Guinan about to say something, Q held up a hand. "Do not start with me, Guinan; I am not in the mood."

"Send us back, now!" Guinan demanded, her eyes flashing with an ethereal glow.

Xander felt her power increase, and realised that he had once again made the mistake of judging the book by its cover. This mild mannered lady packed a powerful punch.

"It is too late for that," Q replied, and to Xander's mind he sounded a little regretful, but he put that down to wishful thinking on his part. "The Borg now know of their existence, and whether I send them back now or later, they will come for them either way."

"I know better than anyone how they operate, Q," Guinan said angrily. "The Borg destroyed my homeworld, assimilated my people, and forced what few of us that survived to flee to the far reaches of the universe. They will now do the same to the Federation, and it is all because of you!"

"They would have come for them eventually, Guinan, and you know it," Q replied. "All I've done is jumpstarted the process somewhat. Anyway, that isn't the reason why I'm here." He turned his attention once more to Xander. "The Borg are known to have originated in the Delta Quadrant, but that is incorrect; they did, in fact, originate from your hometown of Sunnydale, California."

"What are you getting at?" Xander asked, although he had a sinking feeling he already knew.

"When I said you were about to meet the descendants of ADAM, I meant exactly that; The Borg began from a small group of five cyborgs that had been hidden in the cave system by ADAM as a fail-safe in case anything were to go wrong with his master plan. However, ADAM was only as smart as the person that created him, and Maggie Walsh knew little or nothing of the Hellmouth or witchcraft, so he left them near a rather unstable portal that was affected by strong magicks, like that wonderful little enjoining spell you and your friends used to defeat him."

"Oh, crap," Xander said with a sigh as he rested his head in his hands.

"They found themselves in a location they had no knowledge of," Q went on, "so they did the only thing they could; they followed the programming of their creator to go forth and multiply, and thus The Borg were born."

"Okay, so what's the worst part?" Xander asked immediately.

"You don't consider that bad enough?" Guinan exclaimed, as she realised she was sitting with someone who, inadvertently, brought about the inception of the species that wiped out her entire race.

"Oh I do," Xander replied, and Guinan could hear in his tone that he was very aware of how major that revelation was, "but I've always been able to tell when someone was holding something back, and Q is definitely holding something back."

"You're right," Q told him. "Those original five were programmed to seek out and destroy the four people ADAM had deemed to be the biggest risk to his plan; Rupert Giles, Willow Rosenberg, Buffy Summers, and-"

"Alexander Harris," Xander finished. "You knew about this before asking me to become your emissary, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't think this was something I needed to know!?" Xander said angrily, modulating his voice as he was mindful of the security personnel outside. They were no doubt keeping an even closer ear on things now that Guinan was with him, and the last thing he needed was for them to walk in and catch them talking with Q. "You've just brought me somewhere that has a helluvalot of things wanting to kick my ass; I think that sits firmly in the 'Tell The Emissary' category, don't you?"

"That is why I came back so soon, to tell you," Q replied defensively. Xander knew better than to believe that Q felt any remorse over his actions, and guessed that he'd realised that alienating the person you chose to be your representative wasn't the smartest thing in the world to do. "Just remember one thing; this might be the future, but there are some things that never change."

Before Xander had a chance to ask what he meant, Q vanished from sight. Whether he was still actually around was impossible to tell, but either way Xander knew that he had been given all the information he was going to get.

"I tell you, the Q has gotta stand for question as that's all I ever have after speaking to him," Xander said angrily. He looked at Guinan, who now looked decidedly on edge around him, and sighed heavily. "Guinan, I-"

"Don't," she snapped, before she took a breath to calm herself. "I apologise. I know you are not responsible for what happened to my people, Alexander, but to know that you had a part in creating The Borg, however unintentionally, is a lot to take in, especially now."

As though to emphasise the situation, a distorted sounding voice filled the room. "We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us.

"Resistance is futile."


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four_

"The message is being broadcast on all known frequencies, Captain," Data informed Picard as he moved beside him. "They managed to get through our security protocols and sent the message through our internal communication network; everyone onboard heard it, and I am at present unable to prevent them from further accessing our systems."

"Data, do whatever you have to, but get them out of our systems," Picard ordered. "Go to engineering and see what you and Geordie can come up with."

"Aye, sir."

As Data got up from his station and moved towards the turbolift, a shimmer of green appeared in the middle of the bridge and a figure appeared, grey-skinned with robotic attachments covering the majority of his body.

"Intruder alert!" Riker boomed while Lt. Worf, who had returned from his escort duty, pulled a phaser and pointed it at the intruder.

Whether the intruder noticed the weapons pointed at him was uncertain, as he seemingly ignored them and carried on towards an unmanned station. Unable to risk the intruder gaining access to their systems, both Riker and Worf fired their phasers, and the figure fell to the ground, either unconscious or dead. Moments later, however, another intruder appeared and moved around his compatriot towards the console. When Riker and Worf fired this time, they found that their phaser fire blocked by a personal force field.

Worf decided to take a more hands on approach and charged at the being, only to be denied as the figure transported away, having already done what it had come for.

"Worf, you alright?" Riker asked, a touch of amusement in his eyes at the less then graceful tumble the Klingon had taken.

"I'm fine, sir," Worf said, although Riker could tell that while his body hadn't been hurt, his pride had taken a hit.

"Data," Picard said, "can you tell what they wanted?"

Data immediately went over to the console and did a system check to see what had been access by their unexpected guest. "They have downloaded approximately 4 terraquads of information, sir, on a wide variety of subjects. I have no way of determining at this point if there was any one thing they were searching for. I must point out, however, that they did download the complete ship manifest."

"Very well, Data, continue on to Engineering and figure out a way to keep them from repeating what they just did," Picard ordered, not in the least bit happy that they had been able to transport onboard with the shields up.

"Aye, sir."

While Data made his way to Engineering, Worf and Riker began to take a closer look at the fallen intruder, who apparently seemed to be dead. Worf took particular interest in the ocular implant that covered the body's right eye, which seemed to be highly advanced technology and yet still managed to appear clunky. When he noticed that it had a seam near the skin, he gripped it firmly and pulled, disconnecting the implant from the socket. Moments later, the body vanished from sight in the same way it had appeared.

"It must have had a failsafe feature to ensure that it could not be studied," Riker said, disappointed that they had lost a way of learning more about their current adversary. Pushing their lost chance to the back of his mind, Riker stood up and approached his Captain. "I suggest we put some distance between them and us, Captain; I doubt this will be their final attempt."

Picard nodded and returned to his seat. "Make it so."

* * *

"Human designate Alexander 'Xander' Harris identified onboard," the disembodied voice of the Borg collective intoned.

"It has been over 400 years; no normal human would still be alive," a female voice replied. "There is no way to be certain it is The Heart."

"Human designate Alexander 'Xander' Harris identified onboard," the collective repeated. "Primary programming must be complied with."

"Very well," the female voice said with a sigh, but there was also a note of something else, something that no drone or collective could understand. "Retrieve human designate Alexander 'Xander' Harris and bring him to me, but do not harm, or assimilate him."

"We will comply."

"I know you will," the female said, her voice tinged with satisfaction.

* * *

Xander and Guinan were chatting, and Xander was using it as an opportunity to make her feel more comfortable around him after the latest revelations from Q. The best way he knew to do that was to talk about his early Sunnydale days, and tales of his lack of a mental filter and the trouble he managed to get himself into without even trying. He could see that he hadn't fully succeeded, but Guinan still seemed better than she had been a while ago and Xander would take whatever he could get given the circumstances.

"So, Alexander, I have to ask again; why did you accept Q's offer?" Guinan asked.

"I died – I won't get into the how – and while I had gotten a place in Paradise, I wasn't ready to enjoy it yet," he replied. "I needed to do more than I had before I could pass on, and Q offered me a way of doing that. It hasn't exactly gone to plan," Xander said with a small smile, Guinan smiling in return at the massive understatement, "but I'm a big believer in the saying 'nothing worth doing should be easy', which means that this is definitely worth it."

"If you want to blend in more, you might want to think about doing away with that," Guinan said, indicating his eyepatch. "Technology has come a long way since your time, Data is incontrovertible proof of that-"

"We had androids back in my day as well, at least we did in Sunnydale, and they were aesthetically closer to looking human then he is," Xander said, interrupting her.

"Oh," Guinan said in mild surprise, given how unique Data was perceived to be by the Federation, and wondered what might have happened for that technology to not be common knowledge for all those years. "Well, getting a prosthetic eye, even a fully working one, will be relatively simple."

"While I know that this," Xander said as his hand reached up and lightly brushed over the patch, "will make me stand out from the crowd, it is the one thing I will never change," he told her, his tone hard and unyielding.

Guinan was surprised by the abrupt change in tone, but could tell from the way he looked not to ask Xander about it. She had heard that tone in her own voice on occasion, and knew that some things were better left alone so she changed the subject slightly. "Is your mission limited to the Enterprise, or is it more general?"

"Well, the Enterprise is the flagship of Starfleet, so the discoveries they make will be filtered down to all levels," Xander told her, his tone now back to his usual cheery self, "and also within the Federation itself, but it is but one ship. There are others that Q wi- wants me to help, but I'm afraid I can't say who they are."

"Why not?"

"Basically because I feel that they should be the first to find out, and they will only find out when they have to," Xander replied. "I have a lot of experience with prophecy and destiny, and being told that I'm here to help them, meaning that they're going to be needing my help, especially when it might be years before they see me, will only make them second guess themselves all the time, and possibly make situations they would have otherwise been able to handle easily much more difficult."

"I understand that," Guinan said, "but you know that's not going to be easy, especially once the reason you're here becomes common knowledge," she pointed out not unfairly.

"I'm not exactly going to be announcing my presence wherever I go, Guinan," Xander said with a smile. "I'm only really going to make my presence known when there is a need; the rest of the time I'll be a simple traveller, exploring the galaxy." Xander's smile dipped a little as he looked round the room. "Of course, that all depends if the good Captain ever decides to let me go."

"You and I both know you could leave here whenever you want," Guinan told him, "so don't try that 'woe is me' act with me."

"You and I both know that the Captain will never trust me if I do," Xander replied, "and if he doesn't trust me, no one else within Starfleet, or the Federation, will either."

"Well, you'll just have to think of a way to prove that keeping you here is a bad idea," Guinan said, a little unnecessarily in Xander's opinion.

He didn't get a chance to reply, however, as the appearance of a couple of Borg drones caught their attention. Guinan froze in place, this being the first time she had truly come face to face with the things that destroyed her homeworld, completely unable to make any move to either attack or defend herself. At any other time, that might have proven fatal for her, but the drones were on a mission and completely ignored her in favour of Xander.

Xander didn't have the problem Guinan had, and apart from a minor interest in how the drones differed in appearance to ADAM, he had no trouble in going on the offensive. Ensuring that he kept himself between the drones and Guinan, Xander struck out with a right hook that caught the first drone in the head and caused it to take a couple of steps back, but didn't seem to affect it otherwise. Xander tried the same with the other drone, with much the same ending; the drone was driven back, but otherwise unhurt. His hands, however, were a different story and Xander was extremely glad that he was made of sterner stuff than he used to, otherwise he would have had two severely broken hands instead of two sore ones.

"Human designate Alexander 'Xander' Harris, you will come with us," the first drone said.

"Uh, let me think about that one for a minute," Xander said in mock seriousness. "Um, no."

"You will comply," the other said, and while the tone was monotonous, Xander could here the drone was not happy he had not agreed.

"Actually, no, I won't," Xander replied.

"We are the Borg, resistance is futile," the first drone said. "You will comply."

"That's a catchy motto you got there, Sparky, but the answer is still no."

The drones were now in somewhat of a quandary; they had been ordered to collect the human designate Alexander 'Xander' Harris, but without his cooperation they only had the options of subduing him or assimilating him, and doing either would go against their orders.

Xander could see the confusion on the two drones' faces, and while he didn't know why it was there, he decided to use the distraction to his advantage. Remembering Q's advice, and realising what it meant, Xander willed a battleaxe to his hand and in a smooth arc brought it down into the skull of the first drone, his whole body shuddering for a moment as the metal of the axe blade clashed with the metal skeleton beneath the skin of the drone. Unfortunately for the drone, Xander's battleaxe wasn't just a simple, if archaic, weapon, and its head was cleaved in two, sparks shooting out from the electronics hidden within its grey-skinned shell.

Xander's battleaxe was the weapon that Willow had given him for his birthday the year before he died. She had tweaked it as only she could to ensure that it never lost its edge, and was able to cut through almost anything. More importantly, it could only cut through what Xander intended it to, so he wouldn't accidentally dismember someone on his side in the heat of battle. It was something Xander worried about a lot when there was time, and without even having to mention it, Willow had given him a solution.

The second drone quickly realised that it would not be able to accomplish its primary objective and went to transport out, only to find its ability to do so blocked somehow.

"Ah, I don't think you need to leave so soon," Xander said with a feral smile. "We need to have a little talk."

* * *

"Captain," Worf said, "sensors detected two more unauthorised transports approximately three minutes ago."

"Where," Picard asked immediately.

"The guest quarters we are keeping Mr. Harris in," Worf replied immediately. "Captain, sensors indicate that Guinan is with him."

"Commander, take Worf and a security team to Mr. Harris' quarters, and inform the security on guard to remain where they are until your arrival," Picard said urgently, the concern for his friend palpable.

"Aye sir," Riker replied, and he and Worf strode over to the turbo lift.

Picard would dearly like to go himself, but his duty was on the Bridge and instead trusted that his First Officer and Head of Security would do whatever they could to keep her safe. He would, however, enjoy giving the two security personnel guarding Mr. Harris' door the dressing down of dressing downs for letting Guinan go in there in the first place.

As Picard returned to his chair, the ship was rocked violently as the vessel before them opened fire.

"Shields down to 92%," the tactical officer informed Picard. The ship was rocked by another hit. "Shields now at 85%."

"Return fire, attack pattern Omega Delta Five," Picard ordered. "Helm, reverse course, maximum warp."

"Aye sir," the helmsman replied and his fingers flew over the Padd controls. "The other vessel is following us, Captain, matching course and speed, but have ceased firing."

"Is there any indication of their offensive and defensive capabilities?" Picard asked, wanting to know whether this was a fight they could win.

"Their shields are making it difficult to get an accurate scan, Captain," the helmsman replied, "so there is no way to tell what kind of weaponry they have onboard, but the fact that their shields are so effective at blocking our scans indicates that their technology is more advanced than our own. The damage we sustained from their attack does indicate that their offensive weaponry is at the very least comparable to our own, but I'm afraid we will need further data to be certain."

"In other words we have to wait for them to fire upon us again," Picard stated, his face grim. "Let's try to avoid that, shall we?"

"Aye, sir."

* * *

Riker and Worf strode up to the quarters being used by Xander, the two guards in front looking very nervous. And so they should, as neither the Commander nor the Lieutenant looked very happy at the moment.

"Commander-"

"Stow it, Ensign," Riker snapped. "You can be sure that the Captain will want to speak with you regarding how Guinan was allowed inside."

Ensign Matthews gulped a couple of time, as while Captain Picard wasn't known for having a temper, that didn't mean he wanted to be in a position to find out firsthand. "Yes, sir."

"I will also be talking to you both about why you didn't notice two intruders appearing in a room you were guarding," Worf growled, although he knew they had no real way of knowing without being in the room themselves.

"We hadn't heard anything from inside the quarters except Guinan and Mr Harris talking, sir, at least not until a minute before you got here," Ensign Dutt informed them.

"What was it?" Riker asked.

"It sounded like metal hitting metal, sir."

Riker and Worf looked at each other for a moment before they drew their phasers, the two security personnel following suit immediately after. The Commander looked at the two Ensigns, and they quickly moved out of the way to allow him access to the door. After waiting a few seconds after to see if one of the occupants would open the door, he took a step to the side, looked at Worf and nodded.

"Computer, override door controls, authorisation Worf Kappa Alpha Three Seven Nine," Worf commanded, and then cautiously stepped inside, with Riker and the two security personnel close behind.

What they found shocked them all; on the floor was one of the intruders, their head and upper torso cleaved in two, and the other was strapped to a chair, looking frightfully at Xander who was stooping down and looking at it like it was a worm and Xander was a bird of prey. On the other side of the room was Guinan, who looked none the worse for wear, although her pallor showed that she wasn't her usual serene self.

It seemed to take a while for Xander to notice that they were no longer alone, but when he did he straightened up and turned to greet his latest visitors. "Hello, Commander, you just caught me having a word with Three of Eleven here. I would also talk to his friend Five of Eleven, but he has a splitting headache."

"What on Earth is going on!?" Riker bellowed, half in shock at the sight before him and half in anger.

"The answer to that is a long one, Commander," Guinan said as she stood up and made her way over to him, mindful to keep as far away from the drones as possible, "and I do not feel like giving it several times, so I would appreciate it if we could adjourn to the briefing room where Xander and I will explain."

Before Riker could respond, the ship was rocked by several large explosions, and everyone could feel that they had decelerated rapidly after the last one. "Explanations will have to wait," he replied. He turned to Ensign Matthews and Ensign Dutt. "You two stay here and guard him until reinforcements arrive so that he can be taken to a holding cell," he ordered, pointing at the bound drone.

"Aye, sir," the replied together.

"Worf, Guinan, Mr Harris, come with me."

"A please would be nice," Xander muttered, having grown tired of the way he'd been treated thus far.

Riker went to snap at the younger man, but realised that now was not the time, and instead took a calming breath. "If you would please accompany me to the bridge?" Riker asked after a moment, not entirely holding back a growl.

"Of course, Commander," Xander replied with a smile, which turned into a smirk when Riker turned and walked away.

"I can see why Q likes you," Guinan said quietly. "You both enjoy annoying people."

"Only those that give me reason to, Guinan," Xander replied as softly as he offered her his arm. Guinan smiled at the gesture, and in a show of trust, accepted it before the pair followed the Commander, Worf a pace or two behind them.


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter Five_

As the quartet left the turbo lift and walked onto the bridge, it was clear that the Enterprise was not on the winning side of the fight. Riker and Worf quickly forgot all about Xander and Guinan and returned to their posts, leaving the pair to watch as the flagship of Starfleet fought a seemingly unwinnable battle.

"Is there anything you can do?" Guinan asked Xander after a moment.

"Honestly, not much; at least not compared to Q," Xander replied, and Guinan looked at him in disappointment for a moment before what he said finally registered. Before she could say anything else, Xander held up a hand. "I can't get us out of here, and I can't destroy that cube, so there's no point in asking. I have restrictions from Q over what I can and cannot do, but even if I ignored them I don't have the power to take on something like that on my own."

"What can you do then?" she asked.

"Nothing if Captain Picard won't allow me," Xander replied, and then turned to face the man in question who had listened in on most of their conversation.

"Whatever you can do, Mr Harris-"

"Xander."

Picard looked a little annoyed by the interruption, but continued on regardless. "Xander, please do it."

Xander nodded and immediately went over to Worf's station. "Can you show me a 3D representation of their ship, and rotate it so I can see all of it?"

After a quick look at Picard, who nodded his head, Worf did as he was asked.

Xander looked at the image for a moment before he pointed at a spot on the ship. "Concentrate all of your fire there and you'll disable it, for a while anyway."

"You heard the man, Lieutenant," Riker said as he noticed Worf hesitate. He could understand his reticence, and even agreed with him, but now was not the time to second guess the Captain. "Fire phasers and photon torpedoes, full yield."

Worf didn't respond verbally, he simply triggered the firing sequence and watched as the phasers and photon torpedoes hit their mark, causing far more damage than he had expected. Moments later, the enemy ship had ceased fire and it looked as though it was now dead in the water, metaphorically speaking.

Picard looked at Xander with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. "How?" he asked.

"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link," Xander replied. "What we hit wasn't vital to the running of the ship, but like with every computer system it was connected to something that was. Taking that out caused a cascade that brought their whole system down. It won't be down for long though, so if you want to get out of here the time to do it is now."

"How much time do we have?" Picard asked, which earned him a look from Guinan.

"No idea," Xander said with a shrug, "But I doubt it would make much difference, would it? You intend to go aboard."

Guinan looked aghast at Picard. "Captain, you can't seriously-"

"Guinan, we have an opportunity to discover more about a potential threat to the Federation," Picard said, interrupting his friend. "We have to take it."

Guinan looked like she was about to argue the point, but she visibly took a deep breath and then turned to Xander. "You know, I believe that Q might have been right after all." with that, she turned and entered the turbo lift.

"What did she mean by that?" Riker asked.

"Have you hard of the game Russian Roullette?" Xander asked in reply. When all he received were looks of confusion, he went on. "It was a game that was played by certain individuals on Earth hundreds of years ago, where they would put a single bullet into a revolver – a hand held weapon of the time that had the capacity to hold six projectiles – and then spin the barrel so that you weren't sure which of the six chambers it was in. They would then hold it to their temple and press the trigger."

"A foolish exercise," Worf commented.

"Absolutely," Xander said in agreement, "but the people that played it thought that nothing would happen to them, but if they played too often something would; there are only so many times you can play that without blowing your brains out."

"I'm not quite sure why you're telling us this," Riker said with a shake of his head.

"What you're about to do amounts to the same thing," Xander replied. "You've managed to survive their initial attack, but instead of cutting your losses and getting the hell out of here, you're going for another spin of the barrel. As Worf so eloquently put it, a foolish exercise."

"You might be right," Picard conceded, albeit reluctantly given the reason Xander was there, "but we have an opportunity to gather crucial information against a clear threat to the Federation. And we are duty bound to take it."

"Oh, I never said you were wrong," Xander pointed out, and held back a smile at the look of surprise that momentarily flashed across Picard's face, "I just wanted to make sure that when the proverbial hit the fan – and whether you like it or not, it will hit the fan – I could say I told you so, even if it means I get to do it from my gilded cage."

* * *

  
Xander walked into Ten Forward with an easy gate, although the security guard assigned to him looked a little winded. Captain Picard had decided to give Xander a reprieve from being confined to quarters given his recent actions, although the guard proved that he still had some way to go before he could say the Captain trusted him. In Xander's mind it was about damn time, given that he hadn't done a damn thing to warrant being held captive in the first place, but knew enough to keep that to himself, or at least not to verbalise it to the Captain.

Not long after his little discussion with the Captain, Picard had sent Riker, Worf and Data on an Away Mission – odd that they called it an Away Mission as pretty much every mission would take you exactly that; away - to the Borg Cube to discern what they could while they had the chance. Xander could see both the pros and cons of the decision, and might well have done the same if he had been in Picard's position, but that didn't mean that either of them would be correct to do so. Picard could get all the information he could ever want on the Borg, but if they came back online and killed/assimilated them all before they got the chance to tell anyone else, it would all be in vain.

Shaking that off for the moment, Xander looked around for Guinan, having guessed that this would be the place she would come when she needed to calm down. It didn't take him long to find her, staring out at the stars.

"Are you alright?" Xander asked as he stood beside her, his guard keeping his distance for the time being whilst making sure he kept him in sight at all times.

"Not especially," she replied after a moment as she turned to face him. "I want to apologise for the way I acted back in the guest quarters. I sh-"

"Guinan, there is nothing to apologise for," Xander said, interrupting her. "You reacted the way anyone would under the circumstances."

Guinan nodded, but Xander could tell she didn't really agree with him. "I assume that they are currently on the Borg ship?"

"Yep."

"I sometimes wonder how the human race survived as long as it has," Guinan said with a sigh.

"Hey, you and me both," Xander replied with a smile. "I'd done things far more stupid in my life than the one that got me killed and survived relatively intact. You know they have to do this, don't you?" he continued after a moment. "They can't just turn tail and run away, even if it is the sensible thing to do, until they have a better idea of what the Borg are."

"I know," Guinan said with a resigned sigh, "I don't have to like it though."

"I'd be worried if you did." The pair stood looking at the stars for a while in companionable silence, until Xander felt the need to speak. "So, what is there to do on a ship like this then?" he asked with a smile.

Guinan smiled in return for a moment before she sobered and looked at Xander curiously. "How can you be so calm? If things do not go to plan, your mission to help humanity will be over before it's truly begun."

"I've learned over the years that there was no point in worrying about things that I couldn't control," Xander said with a shrug. "There were so many other things to worry about that I could control that I simply didn't have time to worry about anything else. Picard has the final say on what happens now; I'm just along for the ride."

"That doesn't make me feel very comforted," Guinan said after a moment.

"It shouldn't," Xander replied seriously.

* * *

  
Riker, Data and Worf were carefully making their way through the corridors of the Borg ship, surprised and quite frankly disturbed by the way they were being ignored by the occupants. Well, Data wasn't feeling disturbed, but he didn't feel anything so it wasn't anything to worry about.

"As I hypothesised, these 'drones' are focussed on their task and will only come to notice us if we do something to interfere with that task, or if we are deemed a risk," Data said quietly.

"We need to find an access terminal," Riker said after a moment. "The sooner we get what we came for the better."

"Agreed," Worf rumbled.

Worf was not very happy with the situation he found himself in, but he knew how important the information they had come to collect was to Starfleet and the Federation, and that it outweighed the obvious risks involved in obtaining it. Also, the fact that they were using clandestine methods grated against his Klingon instincts, even as his Starfleet training agreed with it. Tense situations always made the dichotomy between his heritage and his vocation more pronounced, and he would not be able to relax until the situation was dealt with.

"Commander, I am unable to find a terminal that I can directly use to access their database," Data informed him as they continued their search. "As we have seen during our search, the drones seem to connect to the ship's systems by stepping into specially designed alcoves, possibly as a way of recharging. As we have no way of knowing whether they retain their digestive system, its function is only a supposition."

"Is there any way you can figure out how to access their systems through these alcoves?" Riker asked.

"That is a possibility, Commander, however I believe that to attempt anything more than a peripheral examination of one of the alcoves might attract more attention than we would want," Data warned.

Riker looked at him for a moment before he responded. "We need that information, Data."

"Aye, sir," Data replied, and went to work adapting one of the alcove interfaces to interact with their technology.

"Commander, I believe that if we set our phasers to randomly modulate their frequency, we may well be able to get a further two or three shots before they adapt their shields," Worf suggested.

Riker nodded but didn't reply. He could tell that Worf wasn't happy with the situation, and didn't blame him for it one bit, but the Captain had tasked them with retrieving information on the Borg and that was exactly what they would do. That wasn't to say he was being reckless with his life or of those under his command, but he wasn't about to go back to the Enterprise with his tail between his legs unless there was no other option.

It took less then a minute before Data's warning was proven to be correct; as he got closer to accessing their system, several drones stopped what they were doing and converged on their position. Worf's suggestion worked to begin with and had enabled them to keep the drones back momentarily, but soon even with their modifications the drones adapted to their phaser fire. When that happened, Riker knew they had run out of time.

"Riker to Enterprise; three for emergency beam out!"

Almost immediately, the trio felt the familiar sensation of being transported, but before they became effectively untouchable from harm, one of the drones managed to get close enough to shoot two metallic tubes at Worf, puncturing his neck for a moment before they dematerialised.

* * *

  
Xander and Guinan, with Xander's chaperone a couple of steps behind them, were walking towards the arboretum when they felt the ship rocked by an explosion.

"Guinan, I think you better get back to your quarters," Xander suggested as he steadied her.

"And what about you?" she asked.

"I have a feeling I'll be summoned by the Captain," Xander replied, "so I might as well get a head start and make my way there."

"I'm coming with you," Guinan stated.

Xander knew from personal experience what both the tone he'd just received and the look he was still receiving meant, and quickly realised there was only one correct response. "Of course, I wouldn't want it any other way." He then turned to the security guard with him and smirked. "You're gonna have to go the long way I'm afraid, pal."

Before the man had a chance to responded, Xander and Guinan disappeared.

* * *

  
When Riker, Worf and Data arrived in the transporter room, Worf collapsed to the ground unconscious, and a metallic spiderlike protrusion appeared at the site of the wound, and the skin surrounding the area looked very much like the skin of the drones they had just faced.

"Chief," Riker said urgently to Chief O'Brian, "transport Worf directly to Sick Bay."

"I would not advise that, Commander," Data broke in. "We have no idea how the transporter system will affect whatever it is that Worf has been infected with, especially as it is obviously technological in origin."

"Dr. Crusher, bring a medical team to Transporter Room 1," Riker ordered, deciding to err on the side of caution and heed Data's warning.

"Were you successful, Number One?" Picard's voice asked over his communicator.

"I'm afraid not, Captain," Riker replied, his tone making it clear how unhappy he was about that fact. "They attacked us before we had a chance to get anything useful, and Worf was injured in our escape."

"The Commander is not entirely correct in his assertion, Captain," Data interjected. "I had gained access to their systems and had managed to download some information shortly before we had to depart, but I am as yet unsure as to the nature of the information I was able to attain. Their systems were configured in a manner that was unknown to me, and I found myself unable to instigate a directed search."

"Very well, Data, take what you have to Engineering and decipher what you managed to collect," Picard ordered.

"Aye, sir," Data replied, and after nodding to Riker and taking another quick look at Worf, made his way to Engineering.

"Commander, I need you on the Bridge," Picard said after a moment, knowing that Riker would be reluctant to leave Worf's side as he had been injured whilst under his command. "I also think it is time that we have a talk with Guinan and Xander about what we are facing."

"Aye, sir," Riker replied, and his tone indicated that talk may not be the best word to describe what he had planned.

* * *

  
"Captain, forward shields are now down to 60% and falling," the tactical officer informed Picard as the ship was rocked once again from another barrage of phaser fire.

"Evasive manoeuvres! Helm, get us out of here, maximum warp," Picard ordered immediately. "Tactical, Randomly modulate shield and phaser frequencies."

Neither officer responded verbally to their orders, their actions spoke for them.

"Engineering," Picard said.

"La Forge here, Captain," Geordie replied.

"We need every bit of speed you can manage, Geordie, and see if you can boost the shields."

"I'm on it, Captain," La Forge stated. "Engines are already at 105% capacity, and I've hooked the shields directly into the warp drive. They'll hold for a while, but if they keep firing at us like they are we'll lose shields and propulsion in less then ten minutes, maybe sooner."

At that moment, Riker strode out of the turbo lift and took his station, and quickly reviewed what had taken place so far.

"Options, Number One?" Picard asked after a moment.

"Now is not the time to take a toilet break, Captain," Xander said with a smirk on his face as he and Guinan appeared before them.

"Nor is it a time for humour, Mr. Harris," Picard replied firmly, a little anger creeping into his voice.

"Firstly, my name is Xander, or Alexander if you must," Xander told him, and both Picard and Riker stiffened slightly as they could literally feel the implied threat in his voice if they were to continue calling him Mr. Harris. "Secondly, I learnt a long time ago that you can either laugh in the face of danger, even as you're running away, or you can let fear control you and die. I choose the former."

"We are here to help, Captain," Guinan interceded before things deteriorated further.

"Alright," Picard replied after looking intently at Guinan for a moment. "So, what can you tell me about the Borg?"

"Honestly, there isn't much I can tell you that is pertinent to the situation, Captain," Xander said with a shrug.

"Xander, why don't you tell us what you know, and let us decide what is pertinent or not," Picard suggested.

Guinan felt Xander's hackles rise at the tone in Picard's voice, no matter how faint, and decided to intercede once again in order to keep things from deteriorating further. "Alexander is telling you the truth, Captain; he knows little more regarding the enemy we now face than you do."

"I must say I find that hard to believe given the reason that he was brought here," Picard commented.

"Look," Xander said with a sigh, "we've gotten off on the wrong foot here, and for that I'm sorry. Let's forget the reasons why I was brought here for the moment and deal with the situation at hand; Q didn't give me any information about the Borg that would be of any use to you, but that doesn't mean I can't be of any help, as I have already proven."

"Can you not do what you did before?" Riker asked.

"I could try, but you've seen how adaptive they are."

"Our phasers are having little to no affect against their shields," the tactical officer called out.

"Well, there goes that idea, unless you guys have a more lo-tech option," Xander said.

"What do you mean?" Picard asked.

"When I fought the drones, I was able to hit them without any type of shield coming up," Xander replied, and then looked at Riker, "and as you saw an axe works quite nicely on them, so I was wondering if you had anything like that you could use."

"I'm sure we can come up with something," Riker said, "but I'm not sure we have the time."

"Then we're gonna have to buy you some time then, aren't we?" Xander said after a moment and then turned to Guinan. "How stocked is your bar?" he asked.

* * *

  
"Do I want to know why you need all that?" Guinan asked as she watched Xander collect several items from beneath her bar, including a couple of bottles of liquid that she shouldn't strictly have on a Federation vessel.

"Maybe, maybe not, but I know you're gonna ask either way if this works," Xander replied distractedly as he began mixing things together in a large container.

"What do you mean if this works?" she asked.

"I haven't been around for a very long time, and I'm not sure if things have changed much or not about certain things," he told her, and then touched the communicator he'd been given by Riker. "Ten Forward to Bridge, when I give the signal you need to do an emergency stop and then reverse course."

"I hope you're sure about this, Alexander," Picard said.

"If I'm not, at least you won't have the time to berate me, as we'll all be dead or assimilated," Xander replied.

As Xander added the final ingredient, he stirred the concoction for a few seconds until it was a single colour. "I'll be right back," he told Guinan before he disappeared, reappearing outside the Enterprise. "Planto quis est promptus in quis est non promptus, tunc planto quis est non promptus in quis est promptus multiplex," he intoned, and then poured the mixture onto the hull of the ship. When he saw the concoction spread across the hull far beyond its original capacity, Xander smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, even though he wasn't actually breathing.

Magic had never been his forte, but he had learnt a couple of simple spells that had come in useful several times. The one he'd just cast was designed for people who needed to give someone the slip, and he hoped that magic still trumped science otherwise it would all be for nought. Xander felt the pulse of power as the mixture finally coated the entire ship and quickly transported back inside.

"Captain, Now!"

* * *

  
"Captain, Now!"

"Helm, all stop, reverse course, maximum warp," Picard ordered.

"Aye, sir," the helmsman replied, his fingers flying over the console.

"Captain, the Borg ship has ceased firing and is no longer following us," the tactical officer stated, his tone tinged with relief and confusion. His confusion only increased a moment later. "Sensors are detecting seven Stafleet vessels in close proximity, Captain."

Picard and Riker both stood up at the news. "Can you identify them?" Riker asked.

"Yes, Commander, they're… they're all being identified as the Enterprise!" he exclaimed. "All seven ships are now heading off at warp, each on a different heading, and the Borg ship has set off in pursuit."

"How was that possible?" the helmsman asked.

"Magic," Xander replied simply as he and Guinan once again appeared on the Bridge.

"There is nothing magical about the powers of Q," Picard denied.

"You're right," Xander agreed with a nod of his head, "Q's power is not magical, but I didn't use Q's power to do that; I wouldn't have been able to."

"What do you mean you wouldn't have been able to? How could you have done it otherwise?" Riker asked.

"You guys really don't get it, do you?" Xander said in irritation. "I was brought here to be a guide, to help prepare you for what was to come; I was not brought here to be your wet nurse, or to fight your battles for you. Again, this is a discussion for another time; right not you need to scan for anywhere in the vicinity that will help mask your signature, as the spell I cast will wear off shortly and the Borg will return."

While Picard was still sceptical regarding the 'magic' Xander had just used, but he knew better than to ignore his suggestion. "Very well. Sensors to maximum; look for any anomaly that will mask our warp signature, or will disrupt sensors."

"Aye sir."

"I do believe we have a little time," Picard said after a moment, "so how about we have that discussion now, Xander?"

"That's fine with me, Captain," Xander replied with a smile, knowing that it hadn't exactly been a request. "I've nothing better to do at the moment." Xander turned to Guinan. "Care to join me?" he asked with a bow before he extended his arm, knowing that the invitation would not make Picard very happy.

Guinan smiled and accepted Xander's arm. "Certainly."


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter Six**_

Xander watched with a small smile on his face as the Captain, and the others that Picard had asked to the meeting/debriefing, sat down around the large conference table. It had taken a few minutes for the others to arrive, and Xander had refused to say anything until everyone Picard wanted involved were in attendance, as he hadn't wanted to keep going over the same things time and time again.

Captain Picard, of course, sat at the head of the table, with Commander Riker to his right. Lieutenant Commander Data was also in attendance, but the others were not familiar, and Xander once again bemoaned that fact that Q had left a lot of gaps in the information he'd downloaded into his head. Q had of course given him information on Picard and the others he wanted Xander to help, and had given him some information on Riker from the time Q had channelled some of his energy into the Commander to make him believe he had the full powers of the Q, but Xander had been given little to no information on anyone else, beyond their name that is.

To Picard's left sat a woman, her brunette hair tied up in a bun, and her facial features made her look like she was of Russian descent. Her uniform looked less formal than the others, and she didn't have any markings on her collar to indicate her rank, so it lead Xander to believe that she wasn't a Starfleet officer, or at least wasn't in the direct command structure, and while she looked human, Xander knew enough to know that didn't mean that she was. She had a similar air of serenity as Guinan, but to a lesser degree, and she had on more than one occasion looked at him in confusion. Xander could tell the reason why, and wasn't very happy about it, and planned to bring it up before he went any further.

Next to her sat a black man, with a metal strap that covered his eyes and close cropped black hair. He had on a similar uniform to Worf's and Data's, in that it was mustard yellow, and yet Xander could see that he was still a little uncomfortable in it, although he hid it well. That told him that the man was either new to Starfleet, or had recently changed jobs. Data sat next to him, and the android's complete stillness in his seat unnerved Xander a little as it just gave him another reminder of Data's inhumanity.

Last but not least was another woman, a redhead, who wore a blue uniform but, unlike the others, wore a jacket over the top. She actually looked a lot like Willow's mother, Sheila, which was both a blessing and a curse; it was a blessing as it was the first kind of familiar face Xander had seen since he'd taken Q's offer, and a curse because he'd never gotten along with Willow's mother, as she had felt that the apple wouldn't fall very far from the tree. She looked a little agitated, as though she had somewhere else she'd rather be, which gave them something else in common.

He and Guinan were sat facing the door to the briefing room, which annoyed Xander a little. He would have liked to look out the window a while, as he still got a thrill from seeing the stars zoom by, but when Picard had indicated for them to sit at the opposite side of the table said nothing, as he didn't want to start things off with an argument over such a little thing; there were many larger things to argue about. He knew why they had been placed there, as a way to ensure they would not be able to easily leave, but they seemed to forget that Xander didn't have to use the door, and he had a feeling that Guinan would be similarly capable of leaving if she so wished.

Guinan had since regained her sense of serenity now that they were not in immediate danger, something Xander was glad for as it had a calming effect on him for some reason, and was sat comfortably with her hands clasped loosely in front of her, and a smile that matched his own.

Given her lack of reaction when he'd said he'd performed magic to escape the Borg, Xander had a sneaking suspicion that Guinan was aware of magic and the supernatural, and intended at some point to ask how prevalent the supernatural was, but he wasn't about to ask her about it at the moment. He knew that if he did, it would only lead to the others questioning Guinan on what she knew and he would not want to annoy her by doing so. He knew that the subject of magic would eventually come up due to his comment, but he wasn't intending to explain it to them if he could help it, and definitely wasn't going to get into the topic of the supernatural.

Xander could see that Picard was about to get things started, and knew that for things to go the way he wanted, he had to be the one to control the briefing, at least to begin with.

"Alright, first things first; who is she?" Xander asked a little bluntly, pointing at the brunette. Xander ignored the look of surprise that quickly flittered across Guinan's face at his tone, although he did file away for future reference the way Riker had stiffened and glared at him for a moment.

"I'm Counsellor Deanna Troi," she replied before anyone else could.

"And why would a counsellor be required at a meeting like this?" he asked her. "It wouldn't have anything to do with your telepathic abilities, would it?"

"Xander-"

"Now, Captain, I'm sure that you were going to tell me about her abilities," Xander said before Picard could go any further, the sarcasm in his voice palpable, "and that you would speak to her after our little talk to see if I was holding anything back, but I'm afraid that Counsellor Troi will be of little help to you."

"What do you mean?" the Captain asked.

"I am unable to sense anything from him," Counsellor Troi informed Picard. "Well, that isn't strictly true; I can sense something from him, but it is like when you see something out of the corner of your eye that isn't there when you turn around. Whenever I try and recognise what it is I sense, it disappears." She turned her attention to Xander. "I am not, however, a telepath; I am only able to sense emotions in others unless they themselves possess telepathic abilities."

"How is that possible?" Picard asked, having already surmised that it was another ability that Q had given him.

"I was told once by a local shaman in Africa that I was easy to listen to because I'd been possessed on two different occasions, and as I'd just helped him out with something he decided to repay me by casting a spell on me that would ensure I controlled what could and could not be heard," Xander explained, having realised the question had been directed at him, "especially if someone goes looking without my permission."

"What is it that you have to hide?" Riker asked.

The Commander's comment annoyed Xander, as he'd grown sick and tired of the mistrust and accusations aimed his way, especially by him, and decided to let the Counsellor know just what he was feeling at the moment and opened the door to his emotions. Moments later, Deanna was clutching her head in pain as she was bombarded with wave after wave of emotion, receiving too much information for her head to process. When Xander saw that she was in pain, he closed the door once more, and Deanna regained her composure.

"I'm sorry for your loss," she told him softly after a moment.

"What did you just do?" Riker demanded.

"I just showed Counsellor Troi one of the reasons I keep a lock on my emotions," Xander replied.

"Counsellor?" Picard said, the question clear in his voice.

"I won't go into specifics, Captain," Counsellor Troi stated, feeling that her integrity had been questioned due to Xander's earlier comment, "but Xander is in mourning. I can tell you that I did not sense any deception from him, however I can sense a growing feeling of frustration and anger, although at what I cannot say."

"Don't worry, Counsellor, I think the Captain already knows what's causing that," Xander said. "I must say that I find it a little underhanded that you would bring in someone with Counsellor Troi's abilities without my knowledge or consent, Captain," Xander commented, and held back a smile at the way Picard and the others looked a little uncomfortable at being caught out. "A person has the right to privacy, especially within their own mind, and it doesn't show you in a good light that you would try to deny me that. However, in the interest of our continued relationship, I will let the matter drop."

"Thank you," Picard replied after a moment, not knowing what else to say.

Picard had to say that Xander's comments regarding how they had been conducting themselves had left him feeling very uncomfortable. No one had ever pointed out they way they did things before, and Picard had to admit that Xander was right; they often used tactics that were underhanded, and while there were situations when such tactics were necessary, there had been many instances when they weren't, but they had been used as it was easier. Of course, Picard didn't believe Xander's explanation as to why Deanna hadn't been able to sense him, but that didn't make Xander's point any less true. That, however, was a topic for another time; right now he wanted to get to the bottom of exactly why Q had brought Xander to him. Before he could say anything, however, Xander got in before him.

"So, are you going to introduce the rest of your crew, or do I have to play Twenty Questions?" Xander asked after a moment.

"Of course," Picard replied, realising he had been remiss. "You already know Commander Riker and Lieutenant Commander Data, and Counsellor Troi has already introduced herself, so that leaves our Chief Medical Officer Doctor Beverley Crusher, and our Chief of Engineering, Lieutenant Commander Geordie La Forge."

"If I may ask," Doctor Crusher said, "how did you lose your eye?"

"I didn't lose it, Doctor," Xander replied tersely, hating that particular phrase, "someone gauged it out with their thumb."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," Beverley said after a moment.

"No apologies necessary, Doctor," Xander assured her with a sigh. "It's just that when someone says that I lost it, it makes it sound that I woke up one morning and couldn't remember where I put it."

"What did you do to deserve that?" Riker asked, and then winced as he realised how it sounded.

"I stopped him from snapping the neck of a seventeen year old girl," Xander told him bluntly. "He didn't appreciate it."

Picard realised that to continue the current topic of conversation was not a wise idea and ploughed ahead. "Xander, you have said to me more than once that I have misunderstood the reason for you being here; could you clarify that?"

"I'm not sure how much clearer I can be, Captain; Q asked me to be his emissary, his liaison with humanity, to help prepare you for what is to come," Xander said simply. "For some reason, you've taken that to mean I'm going to tell you what to do, where to go, and how to act."

"You're not?" Picard asked.

Xander turned to Guinan with an exasperated look in his eye. "Please tell me I'm not the one being stupid?"

"You're not, Alexander," Guinan assured him before she turned to Picard. "Captain, when someone helps you prepare for a test, do they tell you what the questions will be?"

"Of course not," Picard replied.

"Then why do you believe that of Alexander?" she asked. "Because of his affiliation with Q, I must admit that I am still wary of trusting him completely," Guinan went on, and sent Xander an apologetic look, "but he has done nothing to make me mistrust him either."

"Alright, say that we accept your guidance; what specifically are you here to prepare us for?" Picard asked.

"There is no specific event or crisis," Xander replied, letting the lie roll off his tongue easily, "and even if there were, I wouldn't tell you."

"Why not?" Riker asked with suspicion.

"Q wants me to help you reach your full potential," Xander replied, carefully annunciating each word. "How will doing all the work for you achieve that? There's a saying that works well here; give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime. I'm not here to give you the answers; I'm here to help you find the answers for yourself."

"I have to say I am surprised that you're making it sound like we have a choice in the matter, given how Q reacted when I said no before," Picard commented.

"I cannot, will not, condone what Q did," Xander replied, as he was pissed off as well, "but what he said was right; they way you dismissed the offer out of hand was arrogant. Only a few hours ago you told me that you didn't believe that my services would be required, and yet you have been already proven wrong twice."

"Q put us in this situation in the first place," Riker pointed out.

"You're right; Q put us in this situation," Xander replied, emphasising the 'us' to make it clear that he had not been party to Q's actions. "Q may be the reason you've encountered the Borg now, but that doesn't mean that this situation wouldn't have occurred some other way, and you would have been in the same predicament as you are now," he explained.

"We might not be able to defeat them now, but given time-"

"Given time you may well find ways to level the playing field," Xander interrupted the Captain, "but that isn't going to help you with the current situation."

"Why can't you just get us out of here?" Riker asked.

"Because I only have a fraction of the power that Q has," Xander replied. "I could get myself out of here, and I could take a couple of people with me, but that is all. I also can't destroy the Borg ship looking for you, and while I could put them out of commission, I won't."

"Why ever not?" Picard asked.

"Because just as I have been telling you, I am not here to fight your battles for you, and Q has ensured that I don't," Xander replied wearily. "I am allowed to help you find the means to defeat them, and I am allowed to give you suggestions that will help, but I am not allowed to do it for you. If I try, I will be stripped of my powers and sent back where I came from."

That was true enough; Q had been very clear what he believed Xander's role to be, and in a way Xander was glad that he had agreed to be on such a short leash in that regard. Xander knew that his own tendencies would make it difficult to just sit back and watch someone die if there was a chance he could prevent it, and could easily see him doing more harm than good in the long run by coddling them too much. The punishment was definitely enough to make him think twice, as when Q had meant that he would send him back to where he had found him he had meant it literally, and Xander had no desire to spend the rest of eternity at that roadside store.

"If that is true, how were you able to help us escape?" Data asked. "I would believe such an action would be in direct violation of the very stipulation you just explained to us."

"Because I didn't use my powers, I used magic," Xander replied with a sigh, knowing he would have to try and explain the concept to them.

"Magic isn't real," Riker stated confidently, and the problem Xander had was that it would be extremely difficult to prove the man wrong.

"Quite frankly, Commander, I couldn't care less if you believe me or not," Xander told him, having grown tired of the man's attitude, "but it was magic."

"Alexander is telling you the truth," Guinan said. "Magic is very real, but more or less obsolete in modern society due to Clarke's Third Law. There are very few practitioners in existence today, and the vast majority of those only do so purely as an academic exercise."

"I have to admit, Guinan, that I find the concept of magic a difficult pill to swallow," Picard stated.

"That in itself is another reason why magic has all but died out, at least among humans," Guinan replied. "Magic largely relies upon a person's belief that it will work; as technology has become more advanced, and our knowledge of the universe grows, it is harder for people to maintain their belief in the concept of magic, in the same way that most of humanity no longer believes in a particular religion."

"As I said before, it doesn't matter to me whether you believe me or not about magic," Xander said again, "but because I know you won't be happy until you have more proof, I'm going to give you another demonstration, or to be precise you are, Captain."

"What do you mean, I will?" Picard asked.

"If I do it, you'll just say I am using the power Q has given me," Xander explained. He could see that, despite Guinan's confirmation that magic was indeed real, the others did not believe, and could see no other way of changing that than to have one of them perform a small spell. "And before you say it, I will not, and in fact cannot, grant you any power."

"Alright, what would you have me do?" Picard asked, his voice sceptical.

"Because you do not believe, most spells would be beyond your ability, but I do have a little something that I used to use to entertain the kids in the villages I used to visit," Xander said, and in front of both him and Picard appeared a sheet of paper and a pencil. He picked up the pencil and then quickly drew a diagram on it, his sure strokes showing that it was a diagram he had drawn on many an occasion, and then slid it to the Captain. "Copy the drawing if you please, Captain."

Picard was about to ask why, but could tell from the look in Xander's eyes that he was tired of having his every statement questioned, and not without some cause, so he instead followed the request and copied the diagram as best he could, taking longer than Xander. Once he was happy it was as close as he could make it, he looked at Xander. "Now what?"

"Now, you need to add either a drop of blood, or a single tear," Xander answered.

"What!" Picard roared.

"You need to add either a drop of blood, or a single tear," he repeated calmly, having known he would get that response. "If you don't want to do it, that is your choice, but if you want to see proof of magic, then you need to add either a drop of blood or-"

"A single tear, I know what you said, Xander," Picard replied, far more calmly. "You do realise I am putting a lot of trust in you right now."

"Why?" Xander asked, holding back a smile. "It's not as though I'm asking you to slit your throat or sacrifice your first born son, Captain. Anyway, you told me that you don't believe in magic, so it doesn't matter if you do it or not, does it."

Picard could hear the tone in Xander's voice, the challenge, and while he could easily see through what he was trying to do, he was never one to shy away from a challenge. "I don't believe that I shall be shedding any tears at the moment, so that leaves a drop of blood."

"Captain, you surely can't believe in this," Riker said in disbelief. "This could be a trick."

"We are on a mission of discovery, Number One," the Captain replied. "Besides, if Xander had truly wanted me dead, I already would be." He turned his attention once more to Xander. "I assume you have a way for me to extract the blood."

"You only need a drop, Captain," Xander said with a smile, amused by the almost melodramatic way Picard was going about things, "you don't need to slice your palm open or anything. You could simply use one of the Counsellor's hair pins and prick a finger."

The Captain nodded and turned to Deanna, who after a moment complied with the silent request and removed a hair pin and handed it to him. Picard hesitated a moment, and then pricked his index finger, wincing slightly, and then allowed a drop of his blood to fall onto the drawing. The instant it hit the drawing, the blood seemed to expand across it, and then began to flow up, until stood before him was a 3D version of the diagram he had just drawn.

"Captain," Geordie said, "There is no energy signatures coming from the paper, nothing to indicate a power source. By all rights my visor shouldn't even be able to pick it up, and yet I can see it in more detail than I can see anything else in this room."

The group, apart from Xander and Guinan, looked at the object in varying degrees of awe as it began to move from side to side, and then began to sing.

_I love you,  
You love me,  
We're a happy family,  
With a great big hug and,  
A kiss from me to you  
Won't you say you love me too?_

"What is that thing?" Doctor Crusher asked as it repeated the same verse over and over.

"It was a character designed to entertain children, and it did so effectively, if annoyingly," Xander replied.

"How do I make it stop?" Picard asked as he quickly grew tired of the little purple lizard like creature's antics.

"Simply clap your hands three times."

Picard did so immediately, and the figure vanished without trace.

"That, ladies and gentlemen," Xander said with a small smile, "was magic. Now then, you, we, have a Borg ship gunning for us. Anything else can be debated later when we know we'll be alive to do so."

"Agreed," Picard replied with a nod. "Data, have you succeeded in deciphering the data you downloaded?"

"Partially, Captain," Data replied. "I am afraid, however, that what we have been able to decipher is of no practical value to our situation. From my observations whilst aboard their vessel, the Borg function in much the same way as an ant colony or a bee hive; each drone is given a particular task, and will not deviate from that task unless instructed otherwise. That leads me to believe that there will be a single Borg in control of the hive, or collective; a Borg Queen if you will."

"How does that help us, Data?" Picard asked.

"If we were able to capture the Queen, we would in effect be able to control the entire collective."

"I doubt that would be possible, Captain," Guinan said.

"Why not?"

"The Borg are more than one vessel, they in fact control a major part of the Delta Quadrant and part of the Beta Quadrant," Guinan explained. "If Data's theory regarding a Borg Queen is correct, it would be highly unlikely that they would be on the Borg ship in pursuit of us."

There was of course another reason Data's supposition wouldn't work, but neither Xander nor Guinan felt the need to explain it. They both now knew that there was probably five Borg in command, the five that had arrived in the Delta Quadrant four centuries ago from Sunnydale. There was a chance that one or more of them had been destroyed over the centuries, but Xander at least knew that his luck didn't run that way.

"What of Three of Eleven?" Xander asked.

"What?" Picard said.

"Three of Eleven? You know, the drone that I captured?" Xander explained. "Has anyone been able to interrogate it?"

"We have been carefully studying the drone that you killed," Geordie informed him, "as we don't want it to disappear like the last one, but no one has spoken with the one in the brig as yet."

"Well then, if the Captain is agreeable, I would like to help out with that," Xander said.

Picard looked at Xander for a moment before nodding his head. "Alright, you and Commander Riker-"

"No offence, Captain, but that's not a good idea," Xander said interrupting him.

"Why is that?" Riker asked suspiciously.

"That is the reason why, Commander," Xander said angrily. "I've been nothing but polite and helpful from the moment I got here, but because you've got your panties in a bunch over what Q put you through the last time he was here, you've had it out for me."

"Now wait a minute-" Riker began, only for Picard to interrupt.

"Commander, that is enough." The Captain waited until Riker had calmed down before he turned his attention to Xander. "I cannot have you interrogate the drone on your own," he said.

"I won't be on my own, Captain," Xander replied. "My 'chaperone' will be with me, and I assume that you have people guarding Three of Eleven?"

"Of course."

"Then I don't see a problem," Xander told him. "And to be frank, if I have to be around the Commander any longer than necessary, I shall be liable to lose my temper." He turned his attention to Riker. "I can guarantee you, Commander, that is not something you want to happen."

"I will not have you threatening members of my crew, Xander," Picard told him forcefully.

"Captain, that was in no way a threat; that was a statement of fact," Xander replied, knowing that he was not helping his cause, but knew he had to speak his mind. "Commander Riker has personal issues regarding Q, and while I can understand that given the circumstances, I will not just lie down and take his attitude when I have given him no reason to act that way."

Picard looked at Xander for a long moment before he nodded his head. "I can understand that, Xander, but my point stands."

Picard could sympathise with Xander in a way, as he was correct in that he hadn't done anything to warrant the treatment he had received thus far, but his association with Q, and their prior experience of the way Q operated, made it necessary in his opinion to act the way they have. Picard did, however, agree that Riker was behaving unprofessionally towards Xander, and was transferring the hostility he felt toward Q over what he had done to him onto Xander. He would not agree with Xander publically, but he would have a word with the Commander privately and suggest that he speak with Deanna to help him come to terms with what happened.

"Alright, I will agree to you speaking to the drone, but I must ask; why?"

"I can do something that none of you can," Xander said with a shark like smile that sent shivers down the Captain's spine. "I can scare the crap out of it."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

As Xander and Guinan walked through the corridors of the Enterprise, their final destination being Ten Forward although neither one was in any hurry to reach it, they conversed quietly with one another, in order to ensure that Xander's chaperone was unable to hear them.

It wasn't strictly necessary, as the chaperone in question was actually having trouble keeping up with them despite their seemingly relaxed gait, but Xander had learnt a long time ago not to take anything for granted. He also had something in place to safeguard against electronic eavesdropping, not believing that Worf, or Captain Picard, would not use that to their advantage.

"So, what did you learn from the drone?" Guinan asked, having been elsewhere while Xander had 'questioned' it. She knew that she would have been safe from it, but that didn't mean she wanted to be close to it.

"Absolutely nothing I hadn't already been told by his 'comrade'," Xander replied with a sigh. "I forgot one small detail when it came to the interrogation."

"Which was?" she asked.

"That Three of Eleven is a drone, and not a person," Xander replied.

"You already knew that," Guinan pointed out.

"Yeah," Xander replied, "but I forgot what that actually meant, which is mainly because since I severed its connection with the collective, it had begun to express emotions. Emotions were something that had been denied it since its assimilation, which was the reason I'd been able to scare it in the first place. However, despite it acting more like the person it had been before, it is not in reality a sentient being; it is a biological computer and its programming is still active. All it knew was what it needed to complete its task; nothing more, nothing less."

"That's unfortunate but not entirely surprising," Guinan commented.

"Yeah, I know," Xander agreed, "but it would have been nice if things had been easy, just this once. Anyway, it kept up its 'you will come with us, resistance is futile' rhetoric, which I was a little worried about-"

"Why would you be worried, there's no way they could actually take you if you did not wish it," Guinan said, interrupting him.

"That's not what I was worried about," Xander told her, knowing full well that a single, or even a group of drones would be no trouble for him. "Picard and the others have just started to, if not trust me, then at least tolerate me again; the last thing I need is for them to find out I was linked in any way with their creation."

"I can see why that would be a problem for you," Guinan said dryly.

Guinan would admit that she still found it a little uncomfortable at times to be around Xander given his link, however tenuous, with the race that had wiped out her own. She knew that they had been created to kill him, and would not have allowed them to come to be had he the knowledge and opportunity to change things, but if not for him and his friends, they would not exist and her home planet would.

However, Xander himself had lessened her discomfort, although she doubted that he was aware he was doing it; he seemed to have this air about him that made it difficult not to like him, at least from what she had seen and experienced, and she knew that prolonged exposure to him would soon soften Jean-Luc's opinion of him, and through him his command crew.

However, Guinan feared that may not be for some time; Jean-Luc was very capable of locking away the emotional part of himself in times of crisis, a trait that was pretty much essential for a starship Captain, but it meant that until the current crisis was over, he would not be amenable to granting Xander the time required for such a thing to take place. That was not good, as while Xander had shown remarkable patience given the reception and reaction his reason for being onboard had engendered in the crew, she could tell that it was not without limit, and that limit was within easy reach.

"Well, I would find my job a little bit hard to do if I had the whole Federation out for my blood," Xander said in a similar tone, unaware of Guinan's thoughts. "I know it will come out eventually, as these things generally do, but I'm hoping that by the time it does come out, what I've accomplished will outweigh the shock."

"We can but hope," Guinan agreed, coming out of her reverie.

"Yeah, but that time is not now, and having Three of Eleven sprout that he was here for me specifically would lead them to ask questions I'd rather not answer at the moment. Anyway," Xander continued, "once we realised that Three of Eleven had nothing to give, I suggested that they take it apart."

"I take it that your suggestion wasn't received very well," Guinan stated as she saw the look on his face.

"They took it about as well as can be expected from a large, relatively peaceful organisation," Xander replied. "They do seem to be good at the whole war thing, but they never really get into it, never really like it, which is no bad thing in many respects. The problem is that they need to realise that, especially in cases like Three of Eleven, whatever they might do to it now pales in comparison to what has already been done, and 'death' would quite probably be the kindest thing they could give it. That they might gain vital tactical information is simply the icing on the cake."

"Yes, sometimes there are things worse than death," Guinan agreed, "but most of the time only those that have personal experience with those things can comprehend it."

"I don't blame them for thinking that way, at least not the Enterprise crew," Xander stated, "especially as they have an android as third in command, but if they don't start looking at things from a strategic perspective more often, they're going to get their assess kicked one day, and they might not survive to learn from their mistakes."

A frown marred Guinan's face. "I just realised something; when our little follower tells Lieutenant Worf or Captain Picard that we were talking, they're going to use the computer to find out."

"I'd like to see them try," Xander replied with a smirk.

"Why?" Guinan asked, a little smile on her face as she noted the slightly mischievous tone in his voice.

"Because all they'll hear is us discussing what we should do on our first date," he told her with a smile.

"Wha-"

"Calm down, Guinan, I was joking," Xander said calmly before Guinan could build up any head of steam. "You're one of the only friends I have at the moment, the first I've made in 400 years if you think in linear terms, and I'm going to go out of my way not to muck that up."

"Alright," Guinan said after a moment, "so what will they hear?"

"All they'll hear us talking about is what you know about The Borg, and you reiterating the point that they need to get as far away from them as possible," Xander replied.

"Isn't that what we're doing?" Guinan asked. "Getting away from them?"

"It would be, but I have a feeling that, until Lieutenant Worf is back to his old paranoid self, I doubt that they will just turn tail and run," Xander replied.

"Is there anything you can do?" Guinan asked.

"Possibly, but I'm unsure as to whether I should," Xander replied with a small shrug.

"Why ever not?" Guinan hissed.

"Believe me, it has nothing to do with me not wanting to help," Xander stated, "but Q has set limitations not only on what I can do, but also when I can do it. He didn't exactly give me a step-by-step guide to what I can and cannot do in a given situation."

"Why not?"

"Because if he knew when I would and wouldn't need to do something, there would be no need for me at all," he replied.

Guinan had little option but to nod in agreement of that, as Q would not have gone to the trouble of choosing an emissary if he could do things differently. "I can understand that, but why not do something this time?"

"I might not know the specifics, but I do know that he's not going to be happy with me if I keep saving people that the Federation cannot save by themselves. Like I said to Picard, I'm not here to hold their hand, and while sometimes that might make me look a little heartless, it is no more heartless than allowing a child to ride a bike unaided knowing they'll probably fall over a few times."

"It would probably be best to use a different analogy to explain it to the others," Guinan said with a small smile, knowing how that would go across with Jean-Luc, "but you are correct. However, while you might not be able to help him directly, it might be an idea to at least go and see if you could nudge them in the right direction."

"Oh, I was going to do that anyway, I just needed to get my point on the record," Xander said with a cheeky grin, having dropped the spell disguising their true discussion matter.

* * *

"How is he doing, Doctor?" Picard asked as he stepped beside Doctor Crusher, who was checking the vitals of Lieutenant Worf.

The Captain had been told of the greying skin and the metal protrusions that had appeared shortly after they had transported back from the Borg vessel, so had thought himself prepared for what he would see.

He was wrong.

The discoloured skin had spread; it now covered Worf's neck, shoulder and upper torso. There were several of the metallic attachments now; connected in such a way to make it look almost like circuitry one would see in a machine. Picard knew that if things continued as they were, he would lose his Security Chief to the Borg.

"Not well," Doctor Crusher replied as she prepared a hypospray and injected it into Worf's neck. "I'm doing everything I can, but all I've managed to do is slow down whatever is happening, not stop it or reverse it." She then moved away from the sickbed and walked over to a computer panel where a display of what was happening to Worf's body at the microscopic level was shown. "I have never seen anything like that, and while I may well find a way to counteract the effects, I fear that it won't be in time."

At that moment, the sickbay doors opened and Xander and Guinan walked in. Spotting Captain Picard and Doctor Crusher, they moved towards them, although while Guinan moved to stand alongside them, Xander stopped a pace or two away. He knew he was seen as an outsider, something that he needed to work on with the Captain and his command staff, and knew that the best way to start that was by not presuming that he was welcome to join in conversations without an invitation.

Guinan, however, had no such problem. "Captain, Beverley," she greeted with her familiar serene smile.

"Guinan," Picard said in slight surprise, as Beverley simply smiled in return, "is everything alright?"

"Of course, Captain," she assured him when she could note a hint of concern, "but Xander and I decided to come along and see whether there was anything he could do to assist Beverley in Worf's treatment."

Both the Captain and Doctor Crusher turned to where Guinan had indicated with a small nod of her head, and saw Xander standing there in a close approximation to parade rest.

"Do you have a medical background, Mr. Harris?" Doctor Crusher asked.

"Please, Doctor, call me Xander, or Alexander if you must," Xander replied, doing his best to modulate his voice to filter out his growing annoyance at constantly being reminded of his father. "I don't have any official medical training, although I have found that my triage skills have come in handy once or twice. However, I do not believe that medical training is necessarily required here, or at least, not entirely."

"And why is that?" she asked, and Xander could tell that she had taken his comment as a slight against her.

"From what we have seen, The Borg are a mixture of man and machine, and what is happening here to the Lieutenant seems to confirm that, not to mention what you can see on the screen over there," he stated indicating the screen the Captain and Doctor Crusher had been looking at, which showed microscopic robots attacking the cells in Lieutenant Worf's body. "What is required is to take one of them out of the equation, and the safer of the two options would be the technological part."

"And how would you suggest we do that?" Captain Picard asked.

"Well, I'm not very familiar with the technology you have available, but I know that an electromagnetic pulse can short out electronics, as long as they're not shielded of course. I doubt something like that would work on a fully assimilated drone, but it might be more successful here, when the process is not complete. A direct electrical surge would probably be more effective, but obviously more dangerous."

"Is there nothing you can do directly?" Doctor Crusher asked.

Xander shook his head. "Unfortunately not."

"I must say I find that hard to believe," the Captain stated, his tone not quite accusatory.

Captain Picard had to keep from taking a step back by sheer force of will as Xander turned his attention to him; there was an anger there in his eye that he had rarely seen, and the space around the young man actually seemed to darken slightly. "You know what? I've had it about up to here," Xander snapped, his hand at eye level, "with this bullshit."

"Xander-" Guinan began, only to be cut off.

"No, Guinan, this needs to be said," Xander told her before he turned his attention to the Captain once more. "You have made it quite clear on more than one occasion that you do not want me to just lead you by the nose through the dangers that are out there, and yet you continue to condemn me whenever I do not bend over backwards to assist you," Xander stated, his voice like steel. He nodded over at the security personnel that had been his 'chaperone', who was nervously fingering his hand phaser. "I have been treated like some common criminal when I have done nothing but offer my help. When I explained to you the reason why I was here, you refused my help point blank, and yet you expect me to solve all of your problems for you."

"There is a man's life at stake here!" Doctor Crusher exclaimed.

"I am aware of that, Doctor," Xander snapped, "but in times of crisis there's always someone's life at stake; this situation is no different, or any more special because of Lt. Worf's situation."

"How can you be so callous?" Doctor Crusher asked incredulously.

"I am here to do a job, and with any job there are rules I must follow," Xander explained, deliberately using a tone one would use when explaining things to a child. "You yourself must have had to decide on occasion who to treat, who to leave to their fate, and before you try to tell me that's different," he went one holding up his hand to interrupt her, "we both know that it isn't."

"You still haven't explained why you won't help save his life," Beverley said, keeping her anger in check as she accepted his point was valid.

"I am here to offer guidance, I am here to prepare you for the journey you have taken, but I am not here to do everything for you. That means that you get to discover things for yourself, but it also means there will be times when you will have to fend for yourselves after I have given you all the guidance and preparation I can. This is the reason why Q has made it quite clear what I can and cannot do; so that I don't just keep pulling your collective asses out of the fire. I have done everything I can to help Lieutenant Worf; the rest is up to you."

With that, Xander turned on the spot and strode out of the sickbay, his chaperone following quickly behind. There was a thick silence that permeated the sickbay for several moments, before Guinan spoke up.

"He is right, you realise."

"Guinan?" Picard said, surprised by her comment.

"How many times have Starfleet had to stand by and watch as civilisations have been at the brink of destruction, because to do anything would be a direct breach of the Prime Directive?" she asked him, but continued on before he could rally an answer. "How many times have you had people act towards you just as you have towards Xander, and felt anger at both your own inability to act, and their unwillingness to understand?"

"These are-"

"Not different situations at all, you are simply unwilling to see that," Guinan interrupted calmly, knowing that to lose her calm would only exacerbate the situation. "Lt. Worf is not only a man under your command; he is also your friend. Because of that, you are not seeing things in the same light as if he were a complete stranger. That is another trait of humanity that is both a strength and a weakness; at the moment, I believe it to be more the latter. Xander has given you all the information he can to help Worf, Captain; I suggest that you act on it before it is too late."

After nodding goodbye, Guinan also left the sickbay in search of Xander, hoping that his anger had dissipated.

Doctor Crusher and the Captain looked at the door for a few moments, before Picard touched his comm. badge. "Picard to Engineering."

"Engineering here, Captain," La Forge answered.

"Geordie, how far have you gotten with understanding Borg's technology?" he asked.

"We have examined the drone that Alexander... disabled, Captain," Geordie replied, still stumbling slightly over how to describe what Xander had done. After examining the drone he could see that it was as much technology as it was organic, perhaps even more so, but as his best friend wasn't organic at all it was difficult to be subjective. "We have run a battery of diagnostics on its systems, and have come some way to understanding how they work, but we are a long way away from being able to construct a workable defence against them."

"Would an electromagnet pulse have any effect?"

"EMP?" Geordie said, his tone one of surprise. "Captain, such a thing has been deemed obsolete as a weapon for over a century; their shields would easily be able to stop-"

"I don't mean the ship," Picard said, interrupting him, "I mean the drones; would it disable the drones? Would it stop what was happening to Lt. Worf?"

There was a pause, and then when Geordie answered there was a note of hope in his voice that hadn't been there before. "If they themselves weren't shielded, then yes, a large enough EMP should disable them."

"How dangerous would it be to Lt. Worf?" Picard asked turning to Doctor Crusher.

"Klingon physiology means that they can take far more physical pain than many other species, and they have biological redundancies in place that give them a greater chance of survival when injured, but in his weakened state I cannot give any clear estimate over how damaging it would be to his systems," Beverly warned.

"At this point, can you think of a better alternative?" the Captain asked. When no answer was forthcoming, he continued. "Geordie, work with Doctor Crusher on devising the best way of administering the EMP. Try not to destroy the Sickbay in the process," he added as an aside, trying for a little levity.

"Aye, Captain," Geordie replied.

* * *

"You have not helped your cause, you know," Guinan stated softly as she found Xander staring out into space in Ten Forward, a glass of synthahol in his hands.

His ever present shadow was standing in the opposite corner, looking uncertainly at Xander, not quite knowing what to do. Guinan didn't blame him; Xander's whole posture screamed that he was a powder keg just waiting to be lit. That the ensign didn't feel like being the one to light it simply meant that he was smart enough to realise he would not fare well.

"I know," Xander sighed, letting a lot of his anger dissipate upon hearing Guinan's calming tones. "I'm starting to see why Q lost his temper; for a crew tasked with seeking out new planets and new civilisations, they're very close-minded. They also have a lot of double standards."

"The reasons surrounding their animosity towards Q has far more to do with him than it does them," Guinan stated with conviction. "Also, you are not seeing them in the best light, which again is more down to Q than anyone else."

"I know you still don't fully trust the reasons I'm here, and I don't blame you given what we've both learned the past couple of days," Xander stated, and was grateful when Guinan didn't make to contradict him. If there was one thing he hated, it was being blatantly lied to. "I know that you will never trust Q, and I don't blame you for that given your history, and he was quite candid with me as to your history, but in this he is quite sincere; if he weren't, he would have continued on without me."

"You're right, I will never trust Q, but I am coming to trust you," Guinan said softly. "I know that you believe in the task you have been given, and will do whatever you can to complete it, but you need to remember one thing, and that is if Q decides that you are not working fast enough, or simply becomes bored, he will take away your powers, he will send you off to the farthest corner of the galaxy, or he will simply end your existence."

"Yeah, I pretty much worked that out not long after I first met him," Xander said with a shrug.

"Then why did you agree to work for him?" Guinan asked incredulously.

"Because despite all that you have said, he still told me the truth," Xander replied. "I need to know that I have truly made a difference before I can accept my final resting place, and this is my best and only shot at doing it.

"Humanity has come so far in the past 400 years, and yet at the same time has come nowhere at all. They have managed to unite under a single banner, and have used their combined wisdom to travel beyond the stars. They have stopped seeing violence as the first solution to a problem, and fully appreciate intelligence and innovation, instead of ridiculing them like they did back in my day. They have made more friends than enemies, and are part of something far greater than anyone on Earth in my time could ever have imagined occurring; the Federation."

"They have indeed come a long way from when I first met them," Guinan agreed, "although even then there were examples of what they could become."

"However," Xander went on, his voice darkening slightly, "they are surprisingly short-sighted as to their own shortcomings, almost to the point of arrogance. They are fully prepared to violate the most sacred right that a person can have, the privacy within one's own mind, and do so not just in extreme circumstances, but as a matter of course. They're so certain that they will be able to cope with whatever they might face, even when evidence to the contrary is shoved in front of them, that I'm not sure Q wasn't right in doing what he did."

"How can you possibly say that?" Guinan asked in shock.

"Let's face it Guinan, while humanity have accomplished great things in the past four centuries, they have also had a lot of luck," Xander stated, having managed to read up on a lot of background information on both Earth and the Federation. "Had they met any other race instead of the Vulcans when they took their first warp journey, like the Klingons or the Centauri, they could well have become an occupied world before ever having travelled to another one. They have made friends with some of the most technologically advanced and influential races in the quadrant, and therefore have not had to stand alone against some of the enemies they have faced."

"I must say that you are overstating things a little," Guinan said, "but I can understand what you are saying. I cannot, however, understand how you can believe that having Q send us directly in the path of the Borg was a good idea."

"Despite what you might think, Guinan, Q doesn't want humanity to die," Xander stated softly, ignoring Guinan's snort to indicate she felt differently. "Alright, name me one time where Q, any Q, has been the main cause for any race to die."

Guinan went to reply immediately, but after a few moments found that she couldn't. As she thought more on Xander's question, she realised that while the Q Continuum have caused fear and misery wherever they have gone, they have not arbitrarily wiped out entire races, or engineered things so that they would perish. That wasn't to say that they hadn't killed, she had seen firsthand what they could do, but never on such a grand scale.

"Don't think I'm trying to make Q sound better than he is, because I'm not," Xander went on when he realised Guinan wasn't going to answer. "He is the epitome of arrogance, has no real social skills that I can see and does not always think of the consequences to his actions, at least not to those his actions truly affect."

"And those are his good qualities," Guinan indicated wryly.

Xander laughed, happy that she was able to make such a comment; it meant that she was actually listening to what he was trying to say. "Q would be the first to agree that he was not a good guy; he could not, however, be considered evil. He sees what he believes needs to be done, and goes about them the way he believes is best. In many ways he is not that dissimilar to humanity, especially in that respect; the only difference between them is that he has the power to do things we could not even fathom."

"What are you trying to get at?" Guinan asked.

"I have had dealings with higher beings before I met with Q, both good and evil," Xander said, and ignored Guinan's sudden intake of breath and wide eyes. "I fought against a being known as the First Evil, who saw us as nothing but insects to step on, and felt powerless as it took my eye, my friends, and my family. I have seen those that called themselves the Powers That Be, recognised by everyone that should know as being on the side of good, sacrifice one, ten, a hundred, a thousand people in their cause."

Xander paused for a few moments, taking a sip of his drink to whet his whistle. "To me, the Powers were as evil as the First, because in my eyes they simply didn't care about us, only about winning. A friend of mine, herself a higher being at the time, finally made me realise that the Powers That Be's reasoning for what they do is above my comprehension, so I am only able to see them in terms that I can understand, which is why I deem those actions to be evil."

"And you believe that Q's actions are the same; that because we do not share the same level of understanding, we cannot truly see what he is trying to do?" Guinan asked.

"Basically," Xander replied with a shrug. "If I thought otherwise, I wouldn't be here. That I am here does give credence to my theory."

"Because if Q really was evil, he wouldn't care that his first attempt failed and would have just continued on regardless," Guinan stated, finally understanding where Xander was coming from.

She still wasn't sure that she agreed with Xander's assessment of Q, although she had seen moments when he truly looked like he cared about others, Quinn being the most notable example. She had also seen him act particularly cruel, and while she could appreciate that Xander's point about not fully understanding his intentions, she wasn't ready to actually agree with it.

However, one thing she did agree with was her instincts; the moment she first saw Xander, she believed that he was a good person, and had not come aboard the Enterprise out of any malicious intent. Now, after hearing him talk, and seeing what he'd done to help, she truly believed that Xander was here with noble intentions.

* * *

Captain Picard looked on as Geordie made the finishing touches to the primary biobed, which both he and Doctor Crusher believed was the best chance of ridding Worf of his current affliction. Beverley had posited that they might be able to boost the resuscitation capabilities of the bed, normally used when a patient's heart had stopped beating, to send a large enough electronic pulse into Worf's body to short out the nanotechnology that was making changes to his cellular structure and installing the metallic protrusions that had now appeared all over his body.

There was a risk involved in the procedure, as they did not fully know how the nanotechnology would react to the charge, but they both agreed that it was their best, and currently only chance at saving Worf's life. The Captain knew that the changes taking place in Worf's body did not necessarily kill per se; instead it would change him into another Borg drone. But as the computer log of Xander's interrogation of the drone currently held in the brig had shown, it was not a state that many would consider life, and most definitely not a Klingon like Worf.

Knowing that Alexander's advice had once again proven useful, Picard was beginning to admit, even though only to himself, that he might have been wrong in the way he had treated him thus far. True, the situation they found themselves in was one of Q's making, Alexander's current employer – if 'employer' was the correct word to use – but it was now clear to Picard that it was not Alexander's doing, as he had been as shocked by the events as anyone, and had done what he could to assist, when he could have just as easily departed and left them to their fate.

That was something else that Jean-Luc was beginning to admit, that Alexander had been helping them as much as he felt able, although that realisation was due to Guinan's counsel. Her comments about how he had been in similar situations to the one Alexander was currently in – where he had to explain to people that while he might have the capability and even the desire to help, he did not have the authority to – had struck home with him, as he expected was Guinan's intent.

He remembered how frustrated he had felt not being able to make them understand that it wasn't that he wouldn't help, but that Starfleet and Federation regulations meant that he couldn't help, and how angry it made him when they accused him of being heartless, or a liar; just as he had practically done to Alexander.

Perhaps, just as Riker had done, he had allowed his feeling towards Q colour his attitude towards Alexander, and he realised that the seemingly young man had done nothing to warrant it. The mark of a Starfleet officer was the ability to enter every situation as objectively as possible, but it appeared that he had not been very successful on this occasion.

He decided that when – he would not even think 'if' – they had gotten past the current crisis, he would need to speak with Alexander again, in a less formal setting than before, and allow him to properly state his case; he owed him nothing less.

"Captain," Geordie said, bringing Jean-Luc out of his thoughts, "we're ready."

Picard nodded in acknowledgment but said nothing; as CMO, Beverley had the final say when it came to medical matters, and he wasn't about to overstep his bounds. He and Beverley had been friends a long time, and he had the greatest respect for her as both a doctor and a person, and knew without a shadow of a doubt that Worf was in the most capable hands possible.

"Okay," Beverley began, "I need to warn you that when we start, Worf's body is going to go into spasm as the electrical charge flows through his system, and you might also see some of the implants in his body spark. It won't look pleasant and he may well scream in pain, despite being heavily sedated."

Both Geordie and Picard nodded their heads in acknowledgment of that, knowing that if she hadn't mentioned it, they may well have thought something was wrong. "The charge will last for five seconds, which both Geordi and I feel is required to ensure that all of the nanotechnology in his system is shorted out," she continued. "Any longer, and we run the risk of irreparable damage to his body; any shorter and we might not eradicate everything and this will all be for nothing."

As she had been talking, Doctor Crusher had been doing her own final checks on the system; she had absolute faith in Geordie, but she always double-checked every piece of equipment she was going to use before any medical procedure. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, she then pressed the button to initiate the electrical surge.

As she had warned, Worf's body immediately began to spasm, bowing so that only his shoulders and heels were making contact with the bed. Only the restraints were keeping him on the bed at all, and they could see that his face was contorted in an expression of sheer agony, one that no one in the room had ever seen on Worf's face before. Then after what felt like five hours, it was over and Worf's body flopped back down onto the bed.

"Well?" Picard asked immediately.

Doctor Crusher ignored him for a few moments as she and Geordie checked the results. "Preliminary tests indicate that we have shorted out all of the nanotechnology," she told him with a small smile of satisfaction. "We will need to continue monitoring his system for the next 24-36 hours to be certain, and we will still need to surgically extract all of the implants and flush his system to be certain all traces of the infection are gone, but I can tentatively say that Lt. Worf will be okay."

"That's excellent news, Doctor," Picard said with a nod.

"It's the first good news I've heard since Q showed up," Geordie commented.

Picard sent Geordie a look of reproach, but didn't voice his disapproval at hid Chief of Engineering's comment, because he secretly agreed.

* * *

"Commander," Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher began, his voice tinged with urgency, and a little panic. "Borg vessel has just come into scanning range, and is on an intercept course."

"Time," Riker asked immediately.

He had noted Wesley's panic, and under normal circumstances would not be happy that a Starfleet officer would display such an emotion, but as Wesley was only 15, he did not have the same life experience as most Starfleet officers that would allow him greater control over his emotions.

"Approximately 27 minutes at our current course and speed," Wesley replied.

"Have we found anything that would allow us to mask our warp signature?" Riker asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, Commander," Wesley replied, his voice sounding subdued.

He had seen the crew – who he still did not feel a part of even given is breveted rank – defeat the odds on more than one occasion, but there seemed to be something different about their current predicament, something that dented his usually unwavering belief that they would make it through okay.

He was young, younger than all but a few on the ship, and knew that to even be onboard the flagship of Starfleet was an opportunity many dreamed but few achieved. That he had actually been given a chance to show that he was worthy of being a part of Starfleet, to be given the chance to gain real-life experience was beyond his wildest imaginings, especially with the Captain's well known... aversion to children.

He had been in life and death situations more than once since coming aboard with his mother, and even when he'd been on Rubicon III sentenced to death, he'd believed that he would be okay. He might not have shown it, but he just knew that, as Worf would put it, it was not his day to die.

He wasn't so sure about this day.

"I could increase the range of the sensors; we would lose resolution but-"

"Belay that," Commander Riker stated, "even if you did find something, we wouldn't reach it before the Borg vessel reaches us. Change course to match their heading, maximum warp. Let's prolong our next encounter as long as possible."

"Aye, sir," Wesley stated.

"Bridge to Captain Picard," Riker said, tapping his Comm. Badge.

"Picard here," Picard's voice rang out in reply.

"They're back."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"Acknowledged," Picard said, his previous feeling of happiness of Worf's improved condition vanishing in an instant. He turned to Geordie. "I need you in Engineering."

"Aye, sir," Geordie replied and immediately left Sick Bay.

"Doctor, I fear we may well be needing your skills again soon," Picard stated.

"I hope not," Doctor Crusher replied, "but we'll be ready."

Picard nodded his head in acknowledgement, not expecting anything less, and then left the Sick Bay on his way to the Bridge. As he stepped inside the turbolift, he realised that this might be the best time to extend the olive branch towards Alexander.

==/ITAXBNAWKI\\==

"Captain Picard to Alexander Harris," Picard's voice rang out in Ten Forward.

Guinan and Xander looked at one another for a moment, knowing there was really only one reason the Captain would be contacting him, before Xander tapped the comm. badge he'd been given.

"Harris here," Xander replied, his tone serious.

"The Borg vessel has found us and is in an intercept course; I'm on my way to the Bridge now, and I would appreciate it if you would join me."

Xander's eyes widened a little in surprise, not by the request as he'd figured they would want him there, but by the fact that it was truly a request. Before this moment, whether it had been stated as a request or not, Xander had known he'd little or no choice in complying; now however, he could tell that if he said no, while Picard would not be pleased, he would not force the issue.

"I'll meet-" Xander cut off as Guinan indicated with her hands that she was to come along. "We'll meet you there. Shall I keep to conventional travel or not?"

There was a pause, and Xander could tell that Picard had been thrown by the comment, but rallied quickly. "Conventional means will suffice, Mr- Alexander," Picard replied, and Xander smirked at the way he stopped himself from calling him Mr. Harris. "Picard out."

"You realise he doesn't mean to insult you when he says that," Guinan stated, seeing Xander's smirk.

"What?" Xander asked in confusion.

"Calling you Mr. Harris; it's common for him to call anyone on his crew like that, even the women."

"I know, I've dealt with military types before," Xander replied, "and before you say anything, while Starfleet would probably not consider itself a military organisation, their ranks and regulations are very similar to the American Navy of my time."

"So why do you get annoyed by it?" Guinan asked.

"My father was a drunk and an asshole," Xander stated bluntly. "He sometimes managed to only be one or the other, but most of the time he was both. Whether it's intentional or not, whenever someone says Mr. Harris it reminds me of him, and I've spent the best part of my life trying to forget the bastard ever existed."

Before Guinan had a chance to respond, Xander got up and held his hand out to her. "We better get a move on; I don't know what's caused the Captains' shift in mood, but I don't want to run the risk that it has a time limit."

Guinan nodded her head, knowing that particular topic of conversation was over, at least for the time being, and took Xander's hand, allowing him to help her up. She didn't need the help of course, and Xander knew it, but it seemed that he'd had instilled within him old fashioned manners. Very old fashioned, as most other females on this vessel would have taken the gesture as an insult to their independence, unless they were on a date of course.

==/ITAXBNAWKI\\==

When Xander and Guinan stepped out of the turbolift and onto the Bridge, they could almost see the tension in the air. Despite both of them being naturally quiet when they moved, the sound of the turbolift doors alerted the crew that someone had arrived, and Picard and Riker turned to look in their direction.

"Hello, Alexander," Picard greeted as he stood up from his seat, before turning his attention to Guinan. "I wasn't expecting you, Guinan, but you are always welcome."

"Thank you, Captain," Guinan replied with a small smile as she and Xander walked down to stand next to him.

"How far away are they?" Xander asked as he looked at the Borg vessel on the viewscreen.

"From what we saw of their capabilities, we will be within their firing range in the next half hour," Picard replied, ignoring the look he was receiving from his First Officer. He had already heard from Riker his thoughts on having Xander on the Bridge, and was in no mood to rehash things. "We are already going at maximum warp, but they are still steadily gaining on us."

"I will do what I'm able to help, but I am already close to crossing the line," Xander stated, wanting to get that out there now. "I will be able to help work out a solution, but I don't know how much more direct action Q will allow me to take."

"Anything you can do will be appreciated," Picard informed him, and Xander could tell he actually meant that.

Xander wasn't certain what had caused the sudden change of heart from the Captain, although he had a sneaking suspicion it was in no small part to do with a certain lady standing next to him, but he was definitely glad of it. This was the first time since he'd come onboard that he thought he might have a real chance of succeeding in his mission.

"One thing you should be aware of Captain, is that the Borg will not be aiming to destroy your ship, but to gain control," Guinan said, having thought over what she knew of them. "You have technology that they might be able to use, and will want to assimilate it, and most likely the crew as well. That you were able to escape from your previous encounter will only make you seem more valuable to them."

If anything, her statement took the tension on the Bridge up a notch. Dying in the process of trying to save the ship was one thing; to be turned into one of the things you're fighting against was something else entirely.

"I know that your crew can carry phasers under certain circumstances," Xander added, looking at his chaperone, "but I would suggest that for the time being that you make it mandatory. Also, if there's anything with a bit more grunt available, I'd break them out now rather than later."

"Agreed," Picard replied instantly. "Attention," he continued, tapping his Comm. Badge, "this is your Captain speaking. Red alert, I repeat red alert. All hands to battle stations."

It was good that Xander had some experience with military as he might well have jumped when the lights suddenly dimmed and red lights began to flash.

"You might not like this next suggestion," Xander said, "but given the way they can adapt to your phasers, you might want to consider using more... traditional weaponry."

"You mean like that axe I have heard so much about but no one knows where it is?" Picard asked dryly.

A moment later, the axe in question was in Xander's hand, the sheath for it strapped to his back. "Yes," Xander said simply, although there was a touch of a smirk.

Riker's hand instinctively went for his phaser, as did Xander's chaperone. Picard saw the motion and shook his head; if Xander had meant him harm he could have done it without the need for an axe.

"How do we know that they won't adapt?" Riker asked, not liking the idea at all.

"Because there isn't anything to adapt to," Xander replied, his tone indicating that he thought the question asinine. "Their personal shields are designed to work against energy-based weapons like phasers and photon torpedoes, not swords or axes."

"I have to say that while there are classes for close quarters combat, it is not mandatory, so I doubt much of the crew would be competent enough to wield them," the Captain stated while taking a look at the axe in Xander's hand.

He noticed that Xander had not offered the weapon to him, and guessed that was more to do with the weapon itself than because he didn't trust him with it. It was quite obviously a piece of master craftsmanship, but despite its apparent age it still looked new and was obviously extremely sharp, given the damage it had caused to the Borg drone's head.

"I figured as much," Xander said, ignoring Picard's interest in the axe for the moment and sheathing it, "but you could allow those that *do* have training to make use of them; I've already proven that they can be effective."

"Indeed," Picard said wryly, still a little uncomfortable with the way Xander had dealt with the Borg drone, but knowing that now was not the time to allow his personal feeling on the matter affect his judgement.

"Sir," Xander's chaperone said, taking one step forward, "Lt. Worf insisted that all security personnel were competent in using both a D'k Tahg and a Mek'leth, and has trained us all in both."

Picard shouldn't have been surprised by that, as Worf himself was a master in most forms of Klingon bladed weaponry, and was no doubt making sure that if they ever had to, his security people could go hand to hand against a Klingon and hold their own.

"Alright, Ensign," Picard said, "but this will not be a training exercise; do you believe that you could use them against real-life opponents?"

"They hurt one of ours and want to take the ship," the Ensign stated, his tone showing how highly regarded Lt. Worf was. "I doubt that will be a problem, for any of us, sir."

Picard nodded, deciding not to notice the tone in the man's voice; retribution was not normally something he would prescribe in, but if nothing else it would be a good motivator to keep his crew alive.

"Captain, do you really think that necessary," Riker asked, his eyes flicking over to Xander more than once.

"Unfortunately yes, Number One," Picard replied. He put his hand up to forestall Riker's next comment. "Their orders will be to only use those weapons if their phasers prove to be ineffective, and that their own safety, or the safety of others, is in immediately jeopardy." When he saw Riker about to say something else, he put a hand up to stop him again. "I don't like it anymore than you do, Will, but I will not leave my men defenceless when there is something I can do about it."

Riker nodded his head, but still had reservations about the idea. While he had trained in martial arts himself, and was adept with a sword, he had always consigned that type of weapon as something only to be used in a tournament setting. He knew that Worf thought differently, but had kept his views on an unofficial basis, knowing that they would not be popular with Starfleet.

Despite his feelings on the matter, however, Riker had to admit that the Captain was right; they had a means of defence that they knew to be effective, and they would be remiss if they didn't utilise it. He also realised that some, maybe a lot of his reticence at the idea came from the person who had suggested it than from the suggestion itself. No matter what the Captain's current change indicated, he would not, could not trust the man; that he would willingly work with a being as malevolent as Q told him everything he needed to know about him as far as he was concerned.

He knew that to take such a view was not becoming of a Starfleet officer, but he found it difficult to keep his bias from colouring his viewpoint. He'd have to speak with Deanna about it when the current crisis had passed.

"In that case, sir, I request permission to join them," Riker stated. He didn't like the idea of the weaponry being used, and wanted to make sure in person that they were only used when all other avenues had been closed to them.

"Alright, Number One," Picard replied, being able to see Riker's motives and silently agreeing with them. He didn't want to give the order for those weapons to be used, but as Captain he had to take more than his own personal views into account. With Commander Riker in charge, he knew that those weapons would only be used as a last resort.

"I know that you are trained in Anbo-Jitsu," Xander said, turning to the Commander, "so I think this could be useful to you."

Xander held out his hand and, as he did, a small cylindrical object appeared. Riker looked from Xander to his hand and back again, his demeanour showing his distrust.

Seeing the way he was standing, Xander rolled his eyes and moved his hand in Picard's direction, indicating that he take it. Picard did so without hesitation, although he did flick a glance in his First Officer's direction as he did so. He noticed how light it was, but could not see how something quite so small could possibly be of use.

"What is it?" Picard asked as he continued to examine the object.

"It's called a Denn'bok," Xander replied, "and it is actually based on a weapon from a TV show I enjoyed watching. A friend of mine decided to cheer me up and created it for me, although I never felt completely comfortable with it due to my lack of depth perception."

"And why do you think I would want to use it?" Riker asked.

"Because it is only lethal if that is your intent," Xander replied seriously.

"Not to sound cynical, Alexander, but I cannot see how something so small could be of any productive use, beyond as a projectile," Picard noted, looking at the cylinder that was no more than six inches in length.

"If I may?" Xander asked, requesting the Denn'bok back. Once Picard passed the cylinder back, Xander flicked his wrist and the cylinder extended to five feet in length. "As you can see, Commander, this is not a bladed weapon, although in the right hands it is just as deadly. However, in the right hands it can also be used to disable and incapacitate without the use of lethal force, which is why I thought you would appreciate it."

With another flick of his wrist, the Denn'bok returned to its shrunken state, and Xander once again held it out for Riker, a small holder appearing next to it. This time, after an affirmative nod from the Captain, he took the weapon and the holder with a quick nod of thanks.

"How do I activate it?" Riker asked after a moment, not wanting to wait until it was too late to find out.

"Just press the symbols and shake your wrist," Xander replied. "Just be careful where you're aiming it when you do, as it's sturdier than it looks and packs a punch."

Riker nodded his head again in acknowledgment and attached the holder to his uniform next to his phaser, sliding the Denn'Bok inside. He hated to admit it, but the weapon was a great alternative to a bladed weapon, and would certainly complement his style of fighting.

"I doubt that I will be of much more use here, Captain," Xander went on, "but I might be of some use in Engineering, if that is alright with you. Also, I would be able to hold off any drones that wanted to gain access."

"I thought you said you wouldn't be able to use your abilities much more?" Picard enquired, making sure to keep his tone purely inquisitive.

"I won't be able to use the abilities Q has given me," Xander corrected. "There are, however, reasons why he asked me to take this assignment on beyond my dashing good looks," he added with a small smirk. "Anyway, I am fully entitled to defend myself; if that also means I'm defending the ship, well, that's just the way it is."

"Of course," Picard replied with a slight twitch of his lips. "Picard to Engineering," he went on, tapping his comm. badge.

"La Forge here, sir," Geordie replied.

"Alexander will be making his way to you, Commander; see if you can work out a way to give us a fighting chance."

"Acknowledged, Captain," Geordie replied, his tone a little confused.

"Guinan," Xander said, turning to her, "You wanna come with, or you gonna hang here?"

Guinan looked at him for a moment, wondering why he suddenly began using colloquialisms, before she answered. "I feel my place is here."

"Alright, I better get to Engineering then," Xander stated, tapping his comm. badge. "Xander to Engineering, don't shoot."

"Wha-"

The rest of Geordie's reply was missed as Xander disappeared into thin air.

==/ITAXBNAWKI\\==

"-t do you mean?" Geordie replied, only to see Xander standing right beside him.

Unlike Q, there was no flash of light, no noise to announce his arrival; one moment Geordie was standing alone at his terminal, the next Xander was right there by his side.

"Howdy," Xander said with a little wave, hiding his smile as Geordie got his breath back from being shocked like that.

"I do not believe it is wise of you to just appear beside someone like that without warning," Data stated as he walked up to the pair.

Xander knew it was immature, but he'd had to be so serious, and had to deal with such serious subject matter, that he needed to let off a little steam. He also knew that the crew needed something to divert their attention away from the ever approaching threat, and acting like an idiot had always worked for him in the past.

"You might be right, Data, but it's also fun," Xander replied, and then became serious, "so, how can I help?"

"I don't know, how can you?" Geordie replied a little tetchily.

Xander didn't take offence, knowing that intentionally or not he had just made fun of the Chief of Engineering in front of the vast majority his department. "Well, I've always been known as an intuitive thinker, although we didn't really know the term at the time, so if you show me what you've got so far, we'll see what we'll see."

"As we have already ascertained, they have technology that is highly adaptive, and their weaponry has proven to be a match if not superior to our own," Data explained. "In the event of a second conflict between us, there is an extremely low probability that we will be victorious."

It was a good thing that they were apart from the rest of the engineering department at the moment, as Xander doubted that they would have wanted to hear Data's bleak, albeit accurate statement.

"Data, you strive to be more human, correct?" Xander asked.

"Indeed I do," Data replied.

"Then you need to learn that, even in the face of great adversity, you must have faith that you will prevail," he explained. "There is a greater chance of failure if you already believe that failure to be certain."

"I do not see how the chances of success or failure can be influenced in such a way," Data said.

"If you don't believe that you can win, you tend not to try as hard, therefore increasing the likelihood that you'll lose. One of the greatest traits of Humanity is the ability to survive, to *thrive* even in the face of great adversity."

Xander stopped himself from saying anything more, partly because of the time constraints, and partly because of what he was and wasn't allowed to explain to Data in order for him to achieve his ultimate goal. "Anyway, that's a topic for another day; right now we need to get ready to kick some Borg butt. Now, I know that physical violence works on drones, but I'm guessing that the shields used on a ship would be different, having to protect it from asteroids and the like."

"Correct," Data replied, "so the suggestion you made previously of using more archaic missiles would not be successful."

"How about an EMP? Would that short out their shields?" Xander asked.

"An electromagnetic pulse did help to purge Worf of the Borg technology," Geordie stated, "but the magnitude of the pulse needed to disable a ship's shields would be astronomical."

"How long until they're within firing range?" Xander asked, his tone slightly distracted as he had the beginnings of a plan.

"At present course and speed, the Borg vessel will be within optimal firing range in 22 minutes and 37 seconds," Data replied after tapping at the PADD in front of him.

"Alright, we need to create some good old 20th Century WMDs, and we need to create them fast," Xander said.

"WMDs?" Geordie said in bafflement, "What is that?"

"Weapons of Mass Destruction," Xander replied. "I know that a nuclear explosion creates a powerful EMP; if we can create enough of them, and then disperse them behind us-"

"The Borg cube's own deflector shields will detonate them, hopefully creating enough of a pulse to knock out their shields," Geordie finished. "What's to stop them from simply using their phasers to destroy them?"

"Also, all Starfleet vessels are designed to withstand electromagnetic pulses," Data said, "would that not be the case of Borg vessels also?"

"That might be the case if you were to create them using current technology, but if you create them using the technology available during the time that nuclear weapons were most used, I doubt that they would show up as anything more than space debris. With that being the case, there would be no need for them to use their phasers, and once they've realised exactly what they are, they'll be too close for phasers to be of any use."

"Creating them would take too long if we don't use current methods," La Forge stated.

"Well then, what about using the replicators? I'm sure that Data here could program them to create them the way we want, even if it has to be done in pieces, and then we assemble them and shoot them outside."

"We?" Data said. "Do you have knowledge of creating nuclear devices?"

"I have experience of deactivating them," Xander replied, shivering slightly as he thought back to the day in Africa when he'd been seconds away from being atomised had he not succeeded. Had he not decided to learn as much as he could from whoever would teach him during his journey through the birthplace of Mankind, he and thousands of others would not be here now. Of course, given where he is, none of them would be alive now anyway.

As a wave of melancholy began to smother him, Xander shook himself and began to pace. "Alright, Data, how long do you think it would take for you to get the replicator ready?"

"I estimate that it will take me thirteen minutes and forty-two seconds to program the replicators to produce the desired weapon," Data replied.

"In that case, if the Commander is in agreement, we have ourselves a plan."

Geordie looked between Data and Xander for a few moments, before nodding his head. "Alright, you do that while I try to coax some more out of the engines. They're already at 105%, but I think I can get them to 110%, at least for a little while."

Data nodded and immediately went to work, his fingers almost blurring from how fast he was moving. La Forge then started walking towards the engines, Xander beside him.

"If it's alright with you, I want to speak with your Transporter Chief," Xander said.

"Why?" Geordie asked.

"I don't believe in only having one plan, and I think he can help me with another."

"Alright," Geordie said in agreement, "but try to give him more warning than you did me, okay?" he added, showing that he had gotten past his embarrassment.

"Sure thing," Xander replied with a smile of his own, before disappearing.


End file.
